A prayer for refugees, asylum seekers, enslaved and
dispossessed people everywhere on earth.

Compassionate God,  
Remember the tears of our Mothers in Egypt,  
Bearing their children in oppression and slavery.  
Hearing the wingbeat of the Angel of Death.    

Remember the cries of the Mothers of Egypt   
When their firstborn was sacrificed   
On Pharaoh’s cold heart of stone.     

Remember the Mothers of the Disappeared,  
Fathers whose children were taken and lost,     
who wait in vain at the border of freedom.      

God of Redemption,  
We remember the trust You have placed in us    
to free the captive and welcome the stranger,   
 to redeem the world from violence and hatred.     

Compassion and justice are the prayers You desire.  
Open our hearts and strengthen our hands  
that our work may be a blessing in honor of You.   

©Martha Hurwitz, 12/22/20