Morning Prayer: Lament over January 6, 2021 Violence
The Call to Prayer
Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes in the morning.
Psalm 30:5b
The Request for Presence
Answer me when I call, God of my justice! Give me relief from my distress!
Have mercy! Hear my prayer! … How long will [they] love delusion and pursue lies?
Adapted from Psalm 4:1-2
The Greeting
You are the strength of your people…
Save your people… Be their shepherd and carry them forever.
Psalm 28:8-9
The Song
Come out of sadness from wherever you’ve been
Come broken hearted let rescue begin
Come find your mercy, Oh sinner come kneel
Earth has no sorrow that Heaven can’t heal
Earth has no sorrow that Heaven can’t heal
So lay down your burdens, lay down your shame
All who are broken, lift up your face
Oh wanderer come home, You’re not too far
So lay down your hurt, lay down your heart
Come as you are
There’s hope for the hopeless
And all those who’ve strayed
Come sit at the table
Come taste the grace
There’s rest for the weary
Rest that endures
Earth has no sorrow
That Heaven can’t cure
So lay down your burdens, lay down your shame
All who are broken, lift up your face
Oh wanderer come home, You’re not too far
So lay down your hurt, lay down your heart
Come as you are
Come as you are
Fall in His arms, come as you are
There’s joy for the morning, Oh sinner be still
Earth has no sorrow that Heaven can’t heal
Earth has no sorrow that Heaven can’t heal
So lay down your burdens, lay down your shame
All who are broken, lift up your face
Oh wanderer come home, You’re not too far
So lay down your hurt, lay down your heart
Come as you are
Crowder from the album Neon Steeple
The Refrain
YHWH watches over the steps of those who do justice; but those on a path of violence and injustice will find themselves irretrievably lost.
Psalm 1:6
A Psalm
Help, YHWH! No one is loving anymore; faithfulness has vanished from the peoples.
Neighbor lies to neighbor; and their words are smooth and duplicitous.
May YHWH destroy all the smooth talkers, every boastful tongue, and those who say,
“We can talk our way out of anything! We know just how to twist our words, so that no one can challenge us.”
“Because they oppress the helpless, because the poor people sigh and moan, now I will rise up!” says YHWH.
The promises of YHWH are flawless, like refined silver, freed from dross, purified seven times over.
You, YHWH, will keep us safe and protect us always from this generation—
Where corrupt people strut proudly around, and the scum of the earth hold high office.
Psalm 12
The Refrain
YHWH watches over the steps of those who do justice; but those on a path of violence and injustice will find themselves irretrievably lost.
Psalm 1:6
A Psalm
O YHWH my God, in you I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers, and deliver me,
or like a lion they will tear me apart; they will drag me away, with no one to rescue.
O Lord my God, if I have done this, if there is wrong in my hands,
if I have done evil to someone who was at peace with me, or was dishonest, even with my enemy,
then let the enemy pursue and overtake me, trample my life to the ground, and lay my soul in the dust.
Selah
Rise up, O Lord, in your anger; lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies; awake, O my God; you have appointed a judgement.
Let the company of nations gather around you, and rule over them from on high.
Let YHWH judge the peoples fairly—and judge me fairly as well, Most High! Prove my innocence and integrity!
Put an end to the violence all around me! Make the just feel secure, O God of justice, you who test mind and heart!
You are my shield, O Most High, who saves the upright in heart.
God, you are a just judge, a God whose anger would blaze forth everyday if you were not so forgiving!
Even so, you sharpen your sword and bend and string your bow.
You have prepared your deadly weapons and readied your flaming arrows.
See how they conceive evil, and are pregnant with mischief, and bring forth lies.
They make a pit, digging it out, and fall into the hole that they have made.
Their mischief returns upon their own heads, and on their own heads their violence descends.
I thank YHWH for being so just!
I sing praise to the name of YHWH Most High!
Psalm 7
The Refrain
YHWH watches over the steps of those who do justice; but those on a path of violence and injustice will find themselves irretrievably lost.
Psalm 1:6
The Gloria
All glory to Almighty God
For love so deep, so high, so broad
The Trinity whom we adore
Forever and forevermore.
15th c. Latin, translated by Benjamin Webb
PCC Hymn #205 O love, how deep, how broad, how high
The Lord’s Prayer
The Prayer Appointed for the Day
God of all humanity,
in times of violence
we see how inhuman 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 towards justice and peace.
Turn us all towards justice and peace
because we need it.
Amen.
Pádraig Ó Tuama
“Daily Prayer with the Corrymeela Community”, pg. 43
The Concluding Prayer of the Church
God be in my head and in my understanding;
God be in my eyes and in my looking;
God be in my mouth and in my speaking;
God be in my heart and in my thinking;
God be at my end and at my departing.
R. Pynson (1514)
Bible translations from The Inclusive Bible or the NRSV.