Lynne Baab

Praying about the flow of time: Praying during Black History Month

Lynne Baab • Wednesday February 5 2025

February is Black History Month, also sometimes called African American History Month. Black history is a topic worthy of a lifetime of study, and Black History Month has an interesting history, too. The origins of Black History Month go back to 1926, and it is celebrated in the US and Canada in February and in Ireland and the UK in October. France organized a Black History Month in 2018, and in 2020, seven countries in Africa began celebrating it in March.

Rather than dig into the history, I wanted to focus on prayer. I did an online search for “praying for Black History Month,” and I found an abundance of beautiful and moving prayers. Many prayers contain statements about honoring people of different ethnicities. This eloquent and convicting prayer comes from the Anglican Church’s prayer resources:

God of all peoples, whose Son reached across the ethnic boundaries between Samaritan, Roman, and Jew, help us to break down the barriers in our communities, enable us to see the reality of racism and bigotry, and free us to challenge and uproot it from ourselves, our society, and our world.

I was struck by the different flavor of prayers written by African Americans. They often stress the unique and wonderful gifts and contributions of African Americans. Here’s an example from Rev. Anita Cobb of New Church Ministry in Indianapolis. Rev. Cobb is Black.

Oh God, today we are just thankful for Black History Month, for the ways in which you have created Black people to do great and mighty things, God, in this country. And we thank you, Lord, for an opportunity to educate others on the greatness, oh God, and that we can move outside of stereotypes, oh God. We thank you for the opportunity to highlight and to show the beauty that is being Black, oh God. We thank you for the opportunity to highlight and show the creativity that is being Black, oh God. For every trendsetter, God, for every inventor, for every entertainer, for every educator, for every engineer, for every doctor, God, we thank you for the ways in which you have used Black people in this country, despite all odds and against all odds, that you continue to allow us to rise up and to shine. And so, God, for that, I say thank you. For that, God, I ask that you continue to cover Black Americans, Lord God, that you will cover all Americans, God, but that you would really protect the Black American from the tragedies that we face just by being Black, oh God.

The contrast in themes between prayers that appear to have been written by white people and those written by African Americans makes me motivated to pray for imagination this month, the ability to put myself in other people’s shoes as I pray.

I asked my friend Suzzanne Lacey for her thoughts about how to pray during Black History Month. Suzzanne, who is Black, is the founder and director of Museum Without Walls, a wonderful ministry combining history and travel, with a focus on justice. Suzzanne wrote,

“In a climate where structured diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts are being dismantled at an alarming rate, Black History Month offers a renewed call to prayerfully remember those who have fought — and continue to fight — for principles our society is attempting to erase. By elevating the stories, achievements, and struggles of African Americans, we seek God’s guidance for deeper unity in our communities. Through both personal and communal prayer, we place ourselves in a posture of listening, asking the Lord to reveal any blind spots and to awaken in us empathy, reconciliation, and respect for every person’s dignity.

“As we pray through this month, may our petitions include gratitude for those who have steadfastly persevered through injustice, as well as intercession for current and future generations yearning for greater equity. We ask for hearts open to correction and transformation, trusting the Lord to move us toward true fellowship rooted in love. In celebrating Black History Month, we affirm that every part of the body of Christ matters, even (and especially) when broader institutions are not actively supporting that vision.”

I’ll close with a combination of two prayers from a helpful website with 25 brief prayers for Black History Month, then a prayer based on Suzzanne’s words.

Almighty God, we pray for unity among all people. Help us to stand together in love and solidarity, celebrating our differences and working towards a just and equitable society. We pray for unity within our communities. Help us to come together in love and understanding, breaking down barriers that divide us.

Lord, enable us to adopt a posture of listening. Reveal any blind spots and awaken in us empathy, reconciliation, and respect for every person’s dignity. We ask for hearts open to correction and transformation. We thank you for those who have fought for justice, reconciliation, and restoration. Equip and empower those who work for equity today. Raise up new generations of people to help us move toward true fellowship rooted in love.

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Next week: Praying about Valentine’s Day. Illustration by Dave Baab: In front of the Wayne County Courthouse, Wooster, Ohio.

Last week I spoke at a prayer retreat on “Meeting God in Grief and Gratitude.” I wrote out the talk, which is here.

Related posts and articles:

• Learning from Jesus about anger
• Important anniversaries in 2020: Women got the vote 100 years ago
• To be a neighbor must include listening (winner of the 2017 award from the Australian Religious Press Association for the best social justice article)

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Lynne M. Baab, Ph.D., is an author and adjunct professor. She has written numerous books, Bible study guides, and articles for magazines and journals. Lynne is passionate about prayer and other ways to draw near to God, and her writing conveys encouragement for readers to be their authentic selves before God. She encourages experimentation and lightness in Christian spiritual practices. Read more »

Lynne is pleased to announce the release of her two 2024 books, both of them illustrated with her talented husband Dave's watercolors. She is thrilled at how good the watercolors look in the printed books, and in the kindle versions, if read on a phone, the watercolors glow. Friendship, Listening and Empathy: A Prayer Guide guides the reader into new ways to pray about the topics in the title. Draw Near: A Lenten Devotional guides the reader to a psalm for each day of Lent and offers insightful reflection/discussion questions that can be used alone or in groups. 

Another recent book is Two Hands: Grief and Gratitude in the Christian  Life, available in paperback, audiobook, and for kindle. Lynne's 2018 book is Nurturing Hope: Christian Pastoral Care for the Twenty-First Century, and her most popular book is Sabbath-Keeping: Finding Freedom in the Rhythms of Rest (now available as an audiobook as well as paperback and kindle). You can see her many other book titles here, along with her Bible study guides.

You can listen to Lynne talk about these topics: empathy, bringing spiritual practices to life. Sabbath keeping for recent grads., and Sabbath keeping for families and children.

Lynne was interviewed for the podcast "As the Crow Flies". The first episode focuses on why listening matters and the second one on listening skills. 

Here are two talks Lynne gave on listening (recorded in audio form on YouTube): Listening for Mission and Ministry and Why Listening Matters for Mission and Ministry.

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