A Lament*

Father, we pray for the sick and the dying, for all who grieve, for those lonely and forgotten, for those estranged from family, and for all who are in despair. We cry out for them “Be merciful, O Lord.” “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. Yet you are the one who brought me from the womb … Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is no one who can help me. I am poured out like water on the ground.” (Lamentations1; Psalm 22)

For the unborn, and for all Your children who will never draw their first breath, for young girls sold into slavery, for little boys delivered into violence, “a voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more. because infants and babes faint in the streets of the city. Even when we cry out, “Violence!’ we are not answered. How long, O Lord?” (Jeremiah 31)

For the violence in our world, for the death of innocents in Syria, in Ukraine, in North Korea, in the streets of our own cities, and for every place in which Your people cry out. For the violence we’ve seen in Orlando, Louisiana, Minnesota, Dallas and Nice, France, we cry out. For every place in which the stranger lives in fear of brutality, in which prisoners are abused, in which men plot against one another, in which violence is returned for violence we cry, “How long, O Lord?” (Psalm 13)

Lord Jesus, in You all things were created—all things on heaven and on earth, all things visible and invisible, all thrones and powers and rulers and authorities. And You are reconciling all things to Yourself, making peace through the blood of Your cross. Renew us in zeal to see Your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Make us ministers of Your reconciliation, we pray. Amen. (Colossians 1)

*Adapted from Bifrost Arts (music available at bifrostartsmusic.bandcamp.com)