Today, another Mennonite Day of Action is happening across Canada. My dad will be offering prayer at the event in Waterloo so last week, he asked me to send any prayers I had.

I don’t have any. My stamina for the struggle comes in waves, and I’m at another low point. When I was having a personal reckoning with my faith in university, I couldn’t pray and I thought all was lost. A dear friend reminded me that prayer comes in many forms.

So today I pray with each stitch of my embroidery, each note of my choral score. My prayer flows through each new Arabic word I learn and into the political analysis I consume and the witness I bear. 

Of course, I could do these daily tasks without attaching a spiritual practice to them. I’d almost rather leave it off because of my conflicted relationship with the White Christian church that has done so much harm. Most notably, in the current context, is the white evangelical church’s strong political influence that drives US-Israel policy. 

So my prayers are two-fold: a grounding practice for myself that keeps me focused and gives me direction even in the times of despair, and a public Christian voice that rejects the mainstream support for Zionism.

Some might call it manifesting, when we start collectively willing our vision into being. Author and civil rights activist Grace Lee Boggs wrote of this powerful collective action: 

“When people come together voluntarily to create their own vision, they begin wishing it to come into being with such passion that they begin creating an active path leading to it from the present. The spirit and the way to make the spirit live coalesce…[We] begin to see ourselves as part of the continuing struggle of human beings, not only to survive but to evolve into more human human beings.”

As Mennonite Action grows, there is a group of ecumenical Christians coming together next week in prophetic prayer and action. Join the mass call to learn how you can whisper your prayers into active paths that breathe justice into being.