An audio visual hedge prayer to remind us all of the perilous times we are living in.

A hedge prayer of protection for the victims and survivors of Jeffry Epstein’s vile sexual trafficking that led to their abuse, rape and traumatization at the hands of powerful, rich, utterly immoral and abhorrent men whose names keep surfacing (even though the released files go to great lengths to redact them).

In fact, the Department of Justice has redacted thousands of pages where potential abusers are mentioned or photographed, yet nearly 100 survivors of this horror at the hands of monsters have had their names and personal information published on the web for any and all to see!  Now many of them are being reviled and threatened, while the accused continue to play victim and the real victims receive more vile insult to their injury.  All this – from a government entity that dares use the word “JUSTICE” in its title.

Dear holy and merciful God,

Throw your hedge of protection around these women who not only were abused and terrorized by Jeffry Epstein and any of those men and women who participated in his sex trafficking, but who now, due to the clumsy and despicable actions of our Department of Justice, must suffer all over again for being survivors of such horrendous treatment.  Confuse and confound any who might attempt to threaten or harm them now that their personal information has been spread far and wide across the Internet, and bring justice not only to those who took part in tormenting and abusing them, but also to any and all who now are acting to protect those very same animals.  Despite the wealth and power that is being brought to bear to avoid it, let both your justice – and earthly, legal justice – roll down like mighty waters.  Bring comfort and protection to these innocent survivors, O God.  And hedge into a box of thorns all those who so far have escaped accountability for such vile behavior – regardless of who they are or what political office they might hold.  Amen.

(The impetus for this prayer can be found here:  “Layoffs are piling up, heightening worker anxiety. Here are some of the biggest recent job cuts.”

16 thousand at Amazon, 30 thousand from UPS.  Entire plants closed with Tyson foods, HP, Verizon, Nestle’, Novo Nordisk, Intel, P & G… the list goes on and on.  People are being laid off in the thousands in Donald Trump’s “Wonderful, Perfect, Couldn’t-get-any-better” economy.  All while food prices continue to rise – while practically EVERYTHING other than gasoline continues to outpace inflation – and need we even mention the new reality of health care where so many people can’t afford insurance anymore?  It all adds up to many, MANY people who need hedge prayers of protection right now.

Lord God, thousands of our neighbors and friends are losing their jobs as corporations continue to chase profits over people and maximize money instead of serving their communities.  Protect them, O God.  Help them have enough food to feed their families – wherever that food may come from.  Help them stay well as they cannot afford doctor visits or emergency room bills.  (And place a hedge of thorns squarely in the path of those who would continue the madness of letting health care affordability die in order to give tax cuts to the wealthiest of the greedy.)

Clearly, Lord God… things are NOT all right here in our current world – despite the lying propaganda coming from the White House and the President’s various mouth pieces.  Our friends need your protection, Lord.  And we all need your guidance, even perhaps your judgment and discipline.  Amen.

Apologies for the silence since Christmas.  Transitioning into retirement and 3 weeks of non-stop traveling have left the hedge prayers missing.
It’s time to get back into the groove.  And this is probably as good a place to start as any.

A Hedge Prayer for all protestors and those willing to speak truth to power:

Holy God, please throw your hedge of protection around all those willing to speak up to the abuses being visited upon so many by violent, untrained thugs that wear the label “ICE.”  If the murders of Alex Pretti and Renee Good indicate anything at all, they remind us that doing the right thing, speaking up and out against an executive branch that is more reminiscent of Nazi Germany than that of any enlightened nation, standing in the gap for those who are being persecuted for no reason other than their brown skin… comes with a very real risk and a cost far beyond what most might expect.  Protect them Lord.  Given them courage to continue to stand up, and remind all of us that our voices must NOT be silent at the evil and unrighteous behavior of the Trump Administration.  Amen.

So… as THIS ARTICLE in Propublica outlines, we now have elected leaders spreading lunacy and advocating for “treatments” that will end up killing people.

This hedge prayer is for those who the likes of Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and his idiotic willingness to believe conspiracy theories and endorsing a book “by a discredited doctor promoting an unproven and dangerous treatment for autism and a host of ailments: chlorine dioxide, a chemical used for disinfecting and bleaching.”

Dear God, protect those who are at risk from such nutcase ideas like the ones promoted by Sen. Johnson.  And forgive us Lord, for our willingness to elect such supposed “leaders” like this corrupt, idiotic person. Amen.

This article from AP News today led me to this hedge prayer.  It comes on the heels of copious reports from Chicago, L.A., D.C. and right here in Charlotte, that (despite the baloney from Greg Bovino, Kristi Noem, or any other Trump mouthpiece claiming that only “terrorists, criminals, or illegals are detained and deported) up to EIGHTY PERCENT of those kidnapped, illegally detained, assaulted and having their rights shredded by these thugs, were U.S. Citizens who had broken no laws and had done nothing wrong or illegal!  (Except, of course, of committing the terrible “crime” of being “American while brown.”)

And now Border Patrol and ICE are claiming an actual quota for arrests and assaults in New Orleans?  Are you for freaking real?  Now they are setting goals and objectives regarding visiting terror on our fellow citizens????

People in New Orleans need our prayers.  Every bit as much as these actual terrorists in ICE and BP uniforms need to be hedged into a thorny box where they can suffer the just desserts of their violent evil.

God of justice, Lord of wind and waves, of fire and water, we beseech you in your great power and love, protect our fellow citizens in New Orleans who are in desperate peril as the evil machinations of our own government seek to visit harm on them, solely based on their skin color or ethnic background.  Do not forsake us Lord; throw your hedge of protection around these people and keep them safe from those masked thugs who would visit harm upon them.  And Gracious God – if there indeed be such a thing as karma – let anyone daring to wear a mask and visit violence upon another suffer the just rewards for their violence.  Let them reap exactly the same kind of harvest as they are so willing to sow upon others.  Amen.

Today’s hedge prayer is inspired by THIS ARTICLE: (Click either the link or the image to the right.)

We definitely stand in need of a hedge prayer for the millions of Americans whose health has been put at risk by the idiotic – and patently false – chaos that Robert Kennedy Jr.’s department of health and human services has created in these past 11 months.

It’s clear that Kennedy is a anti-vaxxer, touting such crap like “no one ever regretted coming down with Covid.” (True, to an extent – the “regretful” ones all died during the pandemic!)  He claims whole milk is healthy, fluoride in water is dangerous, swimming in polluted streams refreshing, Tylenol causes Autism (Funny how a pain-killer introduced in 1955 CAUSES a developmental disability that was discovered 44 years earlier in 1911, isn’t it?), and who is even a convicted felon for heroin possession… Yet the idiotic, mentally ill narcissistic sociopath who happens to be the current President of the United States put this nutcase in charge of ALL health concerns at the federal level… which RFK Jr. has systematically been dismantling (the CDC), ruining (the ACIP), or weaponizing to serve the MAGA ideology (the FDA, Medicare and Medicaid).

All of which are not only putting millions of people at risk;  these patently false and idiotic plans will end up literally killing people.  Hence the need for divine protection for the elderly, the very young, the ill or immune compromised, anyone on the Autism spectrum, those with any kind of serious medical condition at all.  We should be praying for God’s protection for all of them – because putting someone like this in charge of the federal government’s HHS clearly shows that the current administration in Washington sure as hell doesn’t give a damn whether millions of us live or die.

Lord God of all creation, creator of every cell in our bodies, of every bacterium and virus as well as the countless stars in the sky, you have guided so many wise and knowledgeable people for centuries, as their discoveries and research has helped us live healthy and productive lives.  Yet Lord, we now face a very real threat to all the progress that helps so many live meaningful lives despite medical conditions and disabilities.  The idiotic and nonsensical dismantling of so many federal organizations by Robert F. Kennedy and those who share his deadly conspiracy theories will certainly harm – and indeed kill – many who will suffer for these foolish claims and actions.

Lord, protect those who will be affected by difficulties in obtaining vaccinations.  Guide those who might be swayed by these patently false conspiracy theories, convict parents sitting on the vaccination fence that their children’s health and future deserves more than listening to these quacks and charlatans, and place your hedge of protection around any and all who could be hurt by these people’s stupidity.

And for RFK, Jr. and his cronies?  Lord, squeeze them, hedge them in, confine them and contain them.  Let the thorns of your hedge poke and prod them continually.  Let their evil and false nonsense only harm those who believe likewise.  Amen.

A hedge prayer request from Atlanta Ga.  The word is that ICE / Border Patrol are headed that way for the next stop in this current parade of racist terror and intimidation against anyone that’s not as lily white as Kristi Noem or Stephen Miller.

We need to be absolutely clear on one thing:  These current ICE / Border Patrol sweeps in American cities are NOT about protection, law enforcement, removing “thugs,” “drug dealers,” and “terrorists” from America – despite all the lies the Trump administration and Department of Homeland Security mouthpieces keep saying.  If that were true, then we wouldn’t be reading about people being detained and kidnapped in Los Angeles, Chicago, D.C., Memphis, Charlotte, and now Atlanta (all Democrat led cities, by the way) – and then finding out that the overwhelming majority of these “criminals” turn out to be American citizens who have broken no law – except to be born Latino!

Call it what it is:  A racist, fascist attempt to use the might and power of the United States government to intimidate and terrorize an entire culture of our country.

So, by request:  A hedge prayer of protection for the school children, teachers, and staff of Atlanta schools for what they know – beyond a shadow of a doubt – is coming.  (They’ve already seen it played out in city after city.)

Lord God, there are students, teachers, staff and parents in Atlanta who have seen the images and videos of masked, armed ruffians arresting, detaining, even disappearing people who look like them in city after city as this insidious and hateful injustice perpetrated by our own government against its people continues.  They are scared Lord; terrified as they wonder if their community or school will be next.  Will the Home Depot down the road from them be the next parking lot invaded by masked, armed men committing violence against anyone who remotely looks Hispanic or Latino?  Will school children in DeKalb, Fulton, or Gwinett County watch as their parents are forced into SUV’s and taken away?  Will this insane overreach they learned about in history class from Nazi Germany in the 1930s continue here in America?  Lord God of both mercy and justice, these people need your hedge of protection.  As you did with Job, put your fence of protection around them and their families.  Bless them and keep them from the harm these evil and hate-filled hooligans using Homeland Security or ICE badges as an excuse seem hell bent on visiting upon them.

And for those who seem to think this kind of evil behavior is somehow “patriotic” or remotely righteous?  Lord, let your justice roll down like a mighty flood, sweeping them away to the judgment that awaits them.  Squeeze them with your hedge of thorns until they can neither move nor breathe.  Let the words of Psalm 55:15 be the epitaph that awaits them.  Amen.

 

The headline today prompted my thought for a double hedge prayer  (one for protection; another for containment).

“UN approved US plan authorizing an international stabilization force in Gaza”  Notable in the news was the following:  …“and envisions a possible future path to an independent Palestinian state.”

If ever there were a need for a double hedge prayer, this may be it:  For protection of those in Gaza whose lives have been shattered and ruined by two years of Israeli bombing and war – for containment and direction for those same hard core war hawks in Netanyahu’s regime that have indicated that genocide is something they are more than willing to restart.

Lord God, we ask for a hedge of protection for those in Gaza and the West Bank who are struggling just to survive in the aftermath of two years of war and destruction.  Keep them safe and lift them up as the UN guides and directs the effort to establish a lasting peace and a two-state solution to the aggravated violence that has been reigning there.  And hedge in those violent evildoers who are so ready and willing to kill those who are different from them.  Contain the violent urges from both Israeli and Hamas fighters who would rather see their world burn than share it with others.  Keep them hedged in from causing any more evil and death in this war.  Amen.