A Psalm For Newtown

12/14/12

Oh Lord, Most High. We bring this lament before you this morning from the deepest depths of our souls. We have searched for you these past few days and you are hidden from us. Why do you hide yourself from us. We cry out, “Awake, oh Lord!” See what the power of Satan has brought about. Why do you allow him to roam unchecked, destroying at will?

Send your light, oh Lord, that this darkness might retreat from us. Protect your children from the jaws of the beasts that hunt us. Heal those wounds that hate and violence have inflicted upon your people. Restore that faith which grief and sorrow mockingly took away from us.

Those against us seek to destroy us. They know our desire to love and serve you, and take great joy in our despair. Our enemies pose questions to which we have no answers. They drag us before their judges to read aloud our record of unfaithfulness. The times we denied you, the times we stood against you.

And yet we remember your faithfulness. We recall the occasions you came to rescue when our doom seemed certain. For your love, oh Lord, endures even when we do not. Your gift of salvation is most precious, and your promise most durable. What can stand against your purposes? Who can resist the will of the Lord forever?

We eagerly wait for the moment when sorrow bows before the throne of the Most High before it is cast out. With longing anticipation, we look to the time when death submits to the reign of God before it is destroyed.

We will take the name of the Lord with us everywhere we go. We will lift up songs of praise to the one who sustains our lives. With gentle assurance you whisper, “Do not be afraid.” And we will seek after you no matter the distance, no matter the loss. For your love is a love that is always close by, never to go away.

 

CJE