A Prayer for Fred Phelps

Guide us toward lives
that more fully reflect
you.

May we learn to replicate
the embrace you offer
to all –
the very embrace
Fred Phelps will soon know.

Create in us a spirit
that is more willing
to risk
the radical practice
of loving our enemy.
Remind us that that is the path
to healing a broken world –
that it is your desire
for us,
for our nation,
for the world.

Remind us to be
repairers of the breach
rather than those
who broaden the divide.

Teach us
that you do not call us
to love
what Fred Phelps has done.
You only call us
to love the man.

With that in mind,
we pray for him
and for forgiveness
for his hateful
and hurtful ways.

We pray for his family,
who must also
repair a breach
as they come to terms
with the passing of
their father,
former leader,
pastor,
loved one.

Death seldom
comes easy,
even to the most
tortured of souls.
We pray for reconciliation.
Between us.
Between him.
Between them.

May his hateful actions
inspire us toward
a more loving response.
May our instinct to lash out
be subdued
by our will to create a better world.
And
may our anger and resentment
unravel and be released
as we expand our ability
to share love
more abundantly.

Amen