A Prayer for Our Neighbors Experiencing Homelessness

Father, we praise You for being our almighty Creator who knows exactly what we need. You have even numbered each hair on our heads. Because of this, we come before You with humility, trusting that You will provide for us, Your children, in the best ways possible.

We want to particularly pray for the needs of men and women experiencing homelessness in our city. We lament the fact that one out of every 130 New Yorkers have no place to call home and that one out of every five New Yorkers live below the poverty line.

How is it, Lord, that the poorest congressional district in the entire country is right here in our backyard in the Bronx when there is so much wealth in other parts of our city? We confess we have many questions and few answers, Father.

But we know that nothing is impossible for You to overcome, because You have already overcome death itself. No matter how complex the issues of homelessness and poverty seem to us, we know that You have the answers, Father.

We pray that You would heal the causes of homelessness in our community that we perceive—the breakdown of the family structure, the failure of social institutions to care for those at the margins, mental illness caused by war and abuse, the crippling impact of addiction, the lack of economic and educational opportunities for marginalized communities. We pray for these—and also the many causes of homelessness that we are not wise enough to perceive. Please heal these areas of brokenness in us as individuals and in our society at large.

We pray especially for the ministry of Don’t Walk By this February. Thank you for how You have multiplied the efforts of this outreach to our neighbors living on the streets during the coldest month of the winter. Would you grow the efforts of volunteers, staff, and donors even further this year. Please give great energy, wisdom, and compassion to the volunteers serving at all levels of this undertaking. Teach us how to be the hands and feet of Your love to those who lack a home in our city.

Sovereign Lord, though an issue like homelessness can seem overwhelming and even hopeless to us at times, help us to remember Your great act of salvation in the past and the wonderful future that You have promised us, where evil and injustice will be overthrown, every tear will be wiped away, and Your world will be made whole.

Amen.