Editor's Note: Fred Phelps, founder of Westboro Baptist Church — best known for anti-gay demonstrations that include picketing soldiers' funerals — is reportedly near death. The following is offered as a prayer.

Good and gracious God,

We lift up a prayer

for the misguided –

for those who hate

and belittle

and abuse

in your name.

For those

who wish to see

the hate go on,

the anger be fed,

the world continue

on its unsustainable path

of division and judgement.

In short,

we pray for ourselves —

for that moment of relief

we felt

when we first heard the news

that Fred Phelps

was dying.

For the way

we tried to justify

the feeling –

to justify allowing his hate

to grow into a reflection

in us.

Guide us toward lives

that more fully reflect

you.

May we learn to replicate

the embrace you offer

to all –

the very embrace

Fred Phelps will soon know.

Create in us a spirit

that is more willing

to risk

the radical practice

of loving our enemy.

Remind us that that is the path

to healing a broken world –

that it is your desire

for us,

for our nation,

for the world.

Remind us to be

repairers of the breach

rather than those

who broaden the divide.

Teach us

that you do not call us

to love

what Fred Phelps has done.

You only call us

to love the man.

With that in mind,

we pray for him

and for forgiveness

for his hateful

and hurtful ways.

We pray for his family,

who must also

repair a breach

as they come to terms

with the passing of

their father,

former leader,

pastor,

loved one.

Death seldom

comes easy,

even to the most

tortured of souls.

We pray for reconciliation.

Between us.

Between him.

Between them.

May his hateful actions

inspire us toward

a more loving response.

May our instinct to lash out

be subdued

by our will to create a better world.

And

may our anger and resentment

unravel and be released

as we expand our ability

to share love

more abundantly.

Amen

Mark Sandlin currently serves as the minister at Vandalia Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, NC. He received his M. Div. from Wake Forest University's School of Divinity and has undergraduate degrees in Business Administration and English with a minor in Computer Science. He's an ordained minister in the PC(USA) and a self-described progressive.