Starting his remarks at a prayer service inside a “Healing Our City Virtual Prayer Tent” April 23 with words from St. John’s Gospel, Archbishop Bernard Hebda described Jesus feeding 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish — and having 12 baskets of food left over.
“What an amazing miracle,” the archbishop said. “It’s proof positive that nothing is impossible with our God.”
Every day at 8 a.m. since March 9, a spiritual leader has hosted a daily prayer or reflection during a virtual, 30-minute interfaith prayer service. The reflection is followed by nine minutes and 29 seconds of silent prayer to mark the time former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin and three other officers restrained George Floyd on the ground May 25, 2020, after Floyd resisted being placed in a squad car. He died in that encounter. On April 20, Chauvin was convicted of murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s death.
The online prayer sessions began as jury selection got underway for Chauvin’s trial. “We know jury selection is foundational to the process, so we wanted to lift that part up in prayer together,” said Dan Bielenberg, Healing Our City program manager.
The virtual prayer tent was modeled after a physical tent that was located last summer near the intersection of Broadway and Emerson avenues in north Minneapolis. That tent was a place where people could stop and pray. Former Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels erected the prayer tent with his wife, Sondra, July 1.
The Rev. Frenchye Magee, associate pastor of Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church in Minneapolis, hosted the April 20 prayer event. She said the virtual event allows still more time and space for people to pray from all over the world.
Archbishop Hebda acknowledged that ongoing prayer in his remarks. “Over the last two months and indeed, over the past year, there’s been a whole lot of praying going on, with the eyes of the world looking on,” he said.
“We prayed that justice would be done in the trials of those who had had any part in the killing of George Floyd. We prayed that peace might flow through the streets of our cities. We prayed that nonviolence would prevail. We prayed that there might be a heightened sense of fraternity among all God’s children, regardless of the color of skin. We prayed that our young people would have reason to believe and have hope that our country is truly one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
Floyd’s death led to calls for greater attention to racism and racial justice in the Twin Cities and across the United States, and many activists linked Floyd’s death to those of other Black men in recent years at the hands of non-Black police officers. Related protests and conversations have focused on societal wounds that persist today.
Archbishop Hebda said healing the wound of racism requires everyone to open their hearts to allow “God’s amazing grace” to be the light that fills them and is shared with their neighbors.
“It seems that together we need to be committed to changing hearts and minds, and to moving the conversation about race in this country and in our communities beyond accusations and recriminations toward practical, nonviolent solutions to the everyday problems that are encountered in our communities,” he said.
That can be accomplished through teaching the truth about human dignity, recognizing the image of God in everyone and helping others of every race and creed, particularly the most vulnerable, he said.
Jesus gave his life to bring eternal justice and salvation to all peoples, he said, and is before us as a witness to the healing power of forgiveness, compassion, reconciliation and peace.
“Following the example of great leaders like the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who imitated Jesus through nonviolence, we seek to make a gift of our lives for peace and justice for all peoples,” he said.
After the archbishop’s remarks, Rev. Magee introduced a time for silent prayer. An image of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man shot and killed April 11 by a police officer during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, appeared on the screen, followed by a second image with Floyd front and center. Wright’s funeral was April 22.
“As always, we hold in our hearts those persons who are working for peace and justice, and we pray for the healing of our city,” Rev. Magee said. “We pray especially for the family of Daunte Wright, whose funeral was yesterday, and we continue to hold in our hearts all persons who were involved in the trial of Derek Chauvin.
“And we give thanks to God for the journey of justice,” Rev. Magee said. “We are one step further.”
According to its Facebook page, Healing Our City is an initiative of the Center for Leadership and Neighborhood Engagement, led by Rev. Kelly Chatman, “to respond to and transform the pain we are experiencing in Minneapolis through prayer and actions leading to a more just, equitable and healthy city.”
About 360 people participated by Zoom April 23 and 100 via Facebook. Participants could post comments in the session’s chat function throughout the prayer event. One person posted, “Thank you Pastor Frenchye and Archbishop Hebda for your leadership this morning. I continue to pray with and for you, sensing God’s breath through this time with you. I close my eyes and every day, try to imagine the new way of being.”
The daily prayers will continue through May 26, one day after the one-year anniversary of Floyd’s death.
Other reflection leaders this week included Minister Rosemary Klass of Sanctuary Covenant Church in north Minneapolis; the Rev. Lucas Johnson, executive director of civil conversations and social healing with the OnBeing Project; writer Darnell L. Moore; and Emily Wright from the Minneapolis Bahá’í Community.
For more information, to participate or to hear previous prayers, visit healingourcity.org.
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