Prayer is not just a two-way transaction. It also involves the great socio-spiritual forces that preside over much of reality. I mean the massive institutions, social structures and systems that dominate our world today, and the spirituality at their center.

…Prayer that ignores the Powers ends by blaming God for evils committed by the Powers. But prayer that acknowledges the Powers becomes an indispensable aspect of social action. We must discern not only the outer, political manifestations of the Powers, but also their inner spirituality, and lift the Powers, inner and outer, to God for transformation. Otherwise we change only the shell and leave the spirit intact.

from The Powers That Be