Republican prayer circle in congress:

[summer_in_TX]

17. Lament over those using prayer as a performance rather than for repentance

https://substack.com/@brcremer/note/c-131733014?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=2t9tl2

Rev. Benjamin R. Cremer

A prayer of lament over those using prayer as a performance rather than for repentance.

O Lord,
What are we to make of this image?
Men huddled in pious prayer, arms around each other, heads bowed, as if invoking Your name makes the cruelty they prepare holy?
They call it the “Big Beautiful Bill,” but there is nothing beautiful in the policies it enshrines. It strips food from the hungry, healthcare from the sick, dignity from the elderly, and shuts the door in the face of the stranger You told us to welcome.
They bow their heads in prayer, but their prayers do not rise like incense. They rot in the air like spoiled bread.

[snip…]

How dare they speak Your name to pass laws that harm the very people You embraced?
[snip…]
O God of the oppressed, Do not let their prayers shield them from accountability.

[snip…]
Until then, we lament.
We grieve the misuse of Your name.

Rev. Cremer's lament gave me words I need right now to express the righteous anger I'm feeling.