Tyre Nichols and 5 prayers for change
The nation is still reeling over the senseless death of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols of Memphis, Tennessee, and for the unimaginable pain his family, friends, and community have endured. Nichols was a Black man who died in early January, days after being beaten during a traffic stop involving Memphis police officers.
With the release of their bodycam video, many have watched in horror (traumatized and re-traumatized by) the violent events that led up to Nichols’s death.
Leaning on some of the words shared by faith and elected leaders across the USA in the past few weeks, we pulled together 5 prayers for change for you to consider in your reflections during this tragic moment for our nation. This is in solidarity with prayer vigils and protests happening around the country, and with the Nichols family as they funeralize Tyre.
- Pray for the Nichols family as they grieve and seek ‘proper justice’
Sen. Raphael Warnock, from Georgia
“May God bless the memory of Tyre Nichols,” the senator tweeted. “I pray for his family during this time of unspeakable loss and grief. His life mattered.”
The Rev. Franklin Graham, President of Samaritan’s Purse and Billy Graham Evangelistic Association
“Our hearts break for his family. His mother said, ‘I’ll never cook for my son again… I’ll never get a hug from my son again.’ Pray for her, for Tyre’s 4-year-old son, and for all of his loved ones who are hurting,” stated Graham.
Rabbi Gregory Marx, Congregation Beth Or in Maple Glen, Pennsylvania
“In my tradition we call it ‘shiva,’ where people come to the home and try and comfort the bereaved,” Marx said. “Showing up when a family, and when a community is grieving, is very important.”
- Pray for our youth, leaders, and law enforcement
RowVaughn Wells, Tyre Nichols’s mother
“To the police who’ve been charged, she said: “I’m going to pray for you and your families.” She added: “I have a lot of words that I want to say but they will not come out, I haven’t had time to grieve. My son was supposed to be here today, no mother should lose their child in the violent way that I lost my child.”
Josh Ross, Sycamore View Church of Christ in Memphis
“Pray for our leaders,” wrote Ross, who is White. “Pray for Tyre’s family. Pray for our law enforcement. Pray for our children throughout the city who are being shaped by the actions and responses of those they see.
“Remember this,” he added. “God’s grace can hold us through any emotion we feel.”
Southern Baptist Convention President Bart Barber
Barber, who said his “heart goes out to the Nichols family,” wrote a thread of comments on Twitter urging Christians “filled with the fruit of the Spirit” to consider entering police forces.
“If law enforcement is God’s calling upon your life but your heart overflows with compassion for someone crying out to his mother while being beaten to death, embrace that calling while maintaining that compassion,” he said. “You can make a difference.”
- Pray for God’s presence, peace, and healing
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin
“The disturbing and shocking video that was released on Friday evening displays incomprehensible violence towards another human being,” Youngkin said. “We must condemn these heinous acts … and it’s a very important time for us also to stop and invite the Lord to come to this moment.”
Buffalo, New York, NAACP branch President, The Rev. Mark Blue
“This is a time for healing. This a time for prayer. We know the injustice that has been done cannot be undone in our eyes but something that we can do is to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Rev. Blue said.
- Pray for justice and action
The Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Eaton noted that all Americans must “face this problem,” and “we must cry out, much as Rachael wept in loud lamentation, ‘How long, O Lord?'”
“Dear church, now is the time to focus, listen, learn, counsel, advocate for just reforms, and lament a grief that seems relentless, that is awoken again with each act of tragedy and injustice across this nation. ”
The Memphis Police Association
“We have faith in the Criminal Justice System. That faith is what we will lean on in the coming days, weeks, and months to ensure the totality of circumstances is revealed. Mr. Nichols’ family, the City of Memphis, and the rest of the country deserve nothing less. We pray for justice, healing, and eventual closure for all involved.”
- Pray for your neighbors and to be a Good Samaritan
Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Michael Curry
“While we grieve, we cannot give in or give up,” Curry said in a statement. “Just throwing up our hands in despair is not an option lest we leave a brother, a sister, a sibling on the side of the road again. No, let more Good Samaritans arise so that Tyre Nichols’ death will not be in vain.”
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