The Lord’s Prayer, which Jesus told his disciples to regularly pray, is the most common prayer offered in our churches today. We recognize these words when we hear them in our houses of worship and pray them in our own households, with our families, and privately in our hearts. Many of our traditions include The Lord’s Prayer each Sunday, and it is likely being repeated more and more often during the COVID-19 pandemic, even as congregations meet virtually.

As President Trump has said he’d like to see “packed churches all over our country” on Easter Sunday to help him reopen the country and restart the economy, which he apparently thinks will help him get re-elected, we need the words of the Lord’s Prayer more than ever. The call to reopen comes despite the exact opposite instructions from health care professionals, along with governors and mayors across our nation, to maintain our social distance and closures until the dangers of this modern plague are past us. Trump’s reckless invitation to take our worship and prayers back into our churches before it is safe to do so is not only monstrous political irresponsibility, but religious sacrilege.

I predict that legions of pastors, priests, and lay church leaders will ultimately ignore Trump’s alarming advice, instead continuing to take their faith and worship virtual for the sake of healing the nation. Sojourners supports you in publicly saying “no” to Trump’s dangerous call — we've been collecting resources and guides to help you and your congregations gather safely. And we’ll be offering more opportunities to reach out to each other and speak out against reckless leadership in the coming days.

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