Evening Prayer: Economic Justice and the Kingdom

Heavenly Father, God of both the sparrow and the city,

Tonight I sit with Paul's astonishing words — that all of creation groans together, like a woman in labor, waiting for something to be born. And I wonder: do I hear the groaning? The single mother working two jobs who still cannot afford her child's insulin. The coffee farmer in Guatemala who earns sixty cents from a bag that sells for fourteen dollars. The retired steelworker in Ohio whose pension vanished while executives collected bonuses. Creation groans, Lord, and your children groan with it.

Romans 8:19 says creation waits with eager expectation for the revealing of the sons and daughters of God. That means the world is watching — watching to see if your people will live differently. Not just pray differently, but spend differently. Vote differently. Tip differently. Hire differently.

Forgive me for the times I have spiritualized my way past injustice, calling it "not my problem" when You call it the very heart of your Kingdom. Jesus, You entered an economy that crushed the poor and You flipped the tables — literally. Give me even a fraction of that holy courage.