Daily Lesson for April 16, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 17 verses 1 and 2:

1 Hear my plea of innocence, O Lord;

give heed to my cry; *

listen to my prayer, which does not come from lying lips.

2 Let my vindication come forth from your presence; *

let your eyes be fixed on justice.

This morning, as I awaken to yet another video of an officer of the law shooting an unarmed person of color -- this time a 13-year-old boy -- I have not so much a lesson but only a prayer, a plea.

I pray for the ending of this madness.

I pray for the victims of this terror.

I pray for everyone who is so afraid and on guard in a country awash with guns.

I pray for the changing of hearts.

Just as importantly and maybe more, I pray for the changing of policies which make it too easy to take life.

I pray for my family.

I pray for your family.

I pray for the family of Adam Toledo.

I pray to the God of justice and for the healing of this land.

On Wednesday I gathered with a group of clergymen and women to pray for our City and the newly-purchased glass high rise which will soon be the new Fort Worth City Hall. Gathered on the top floor from which we could see the whole City, we prayed one by one in the presence of our Mayor and her staff.

I sat beside and held hands with the Imam as we all prayed together for the peace of the City. I prayed specifically for Attatiana Jefferson, an innocent woman killed in her own home by a Fort Worth police officer in 2019, her family, and for all others who yearned for "justice to roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream". I prayed that the new building would be a place of justice and righteousness, and I asked that if that ever not be the case then I prayed the very stones and glass of the building would cry out.

The stones of our buildings of justice are crying out. The ground is crying out. The blood in the ground cries out.

God hears these cries. May we hear them too.

May we hear them, and may this country be changed.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.