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We Lament Violence and Stand with Peaceful Protest
God is ever making room. God is still creating - even in the midst of our present chaos and stress - a fullness of existence within a fullness of time beyond human imagining, “When all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well” (Julian of Norwich).
We say prayers of lament as we hear creation groan from the human conditions and practices of violence, racism, mob mentality destruction and hatered. We look to the Psalms as we groan:
Psalm 130:1-5
1 Out of the depths have I called you, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice; * let your ears consider well the voice of my supplication. 2 If you, Lord, were to note what is done amiss, * O Lord, who could stand? 3 For there is forgiveness with you; * therefore you shall be feared. 4 I wait for the Lord; my soul waits for him; * in his word is my hope. 5 My soul waits for the Lord, more than watchmen for the morning, * more than watchmen for the morning.
From “Daily Prayer with the Corrymeela Community” by Padraig O Tuama, page 43,
A Prayer in times of Violence.
God of all humanity, in times of violence, we see how human we can be
We pray for those who, today, are weighed down by grief.
We pray for those who, yesterday, were weighed down by grief. And the day before, and all the days before the day before.
We pray too, for those who help us turn toward justice and peace. Turn us all towards justice and peace because we need it. Amen.
From Archbishop Linda Nicholls, Primate or the Anglican Church of Canada, Anglican Journal, June 1, 2020.
“We need a day of lament and mourning. We need to lament and mourn those who have been harmed, murdered, lynched or killed by the racism in us and our world. We need to lament and mourn all the ways we avoid, deny, dismiss or devalue racism in ourselves and our communities. We need to lament and mourn—but just for one day—and then commit to anti-racism work in ourselves, our church and our world for generation after generation.
“For everything there is a season…” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Today is the day for mourning and lament. Tomorrow—and every day after—must be a day for change.”