In Ernest T. Campbell’s collection of prayers, Where Cross the Crowded Way, he prays in triplet. There are few singular prays in the collection. Almost every prayer is one of three. I think each is meant to build upon the other in some way. Usually the first is a confession or observation of some sort. The second flow out of it into prayers for others, and, usually, the third is a prayer for the ones praying.
The pattern doesn’t always follow, but the final triplet in the section “All Sorts of Conditions and People,” holds true. Last week we prayed the first. This week, let us join together in the second of three prayers.
We join our prayers this week in intercession for men and women in our society who are trapped:
those who are trapped in poverty with no sign of relief;
those who are trapped in jobs that engage but a fraction of their powers;
those who are trapped in families where love has ebbed away;
those who are trapped in unwanted alliances out of which they cannot break;
those who are trapped by the fear of discovery, or by dependency on others, or by a need for drugs or alcohol, or by any addiction.
O Father, whose will it is that we be free, and who gave your Son that we might be delivered from all coercive powers,
make us examples of your freedom, proclaimers of your freedom, and instruments of your freedom;
snap our chains that we may loose the chains of others.
Then shall the joy of the liberated rise from the earth like a mighty hymn of praise.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.