How Long?
This past Sunday, the 15th of November, I led worship at our morning service. The texts that I had planned to preach from were Mark 13: 1-8 (Jesus foretelling the destruction of the temple and the admonition to not fear when we hear of wars and rumors of wars) and Romans 8: 18-39 (which ends with the familiar "I believe that nothing, neither height nor depth...can separate us from the love of Jesus). My sermon was mostly planned out along with the service; and then Friday night happened. Terrorist attacks in Paris, Beirut, and Baghdad captured the world's attention. I knew that my plan needed to change. So, Saturday morning, I reworked prayers and started on a new sermon. Working from the same scriptures, the sermon below, focused on the question "How Long, O Lord" is where I ended up.
You will notice that the sermon is on the shorter side; we had a longer time of prayer for the world situation so my sermon ended up being a touch shorter. I have included part of that prayer below the sermon video.
A Prayer for Paris, Beirut, and Baghdad
God of mercy, whose presence sustains us in every circumstance, in the midst of unfolding violence and the aftermath of terror and loss, we seek the grounding power of your love and compassion.
In these days of fearful danger and division, we need to believe somehow that your kingdom of peace in which all nations and tribes and languages dwell together in peace is still a possibility.
Give us hope and courage that we may not yield our humanity to fear, even in these endless days of dwelling in the valley of the shadow of death.
We pray for neighbors in Paris, in Beirut, in Baghdad, who, in the midst of the grace of ordinary life--while at work, or at play, have been violently assaulted, their lives cut off without mercy.
We are hostages of fear, caught in an escalating cycle of violence whose end can not be seen.
We open our hearts in anger, sorrow and hope: that those who have been spared as well as those whose lives are changed forever may find solace, sustenance, and strength in the days of recovery and reflection that come. We give thanks for strangers who comfort the wounded and who welcome stranded strangers, for first responders who run toward the sound of gunfire and into the smoke and fire of bombing sites.
Once again, Holy One, we cry, how long, O Lord? We seek forgiveness for the ways in which we have tolerated enmity and endured cultures of violence with weary resignation. We grieve the continued erosion of the fabric of our common life, the reality of fear that warps the common good. We pray in grief, remembering the lives that have been lost and maimed, in body or spirit.
We ask for sustaining courage for those who are suffering; wisdom and diligence among global and national agencies and individuals assessing threat and directing relief efforts; and for our anger and sorrow to unite in service to the establishment of a reign of peace, where the lion and the lamb may dwell together, and terror will not hold sway over our common life.
In these days of shock and sorrow, open our eyes, our hearts, and our hands to the movements of your Spirit, who flows in us like the river whose streams makes glad the city of God, and the hearts of all who dwell in it, and in You.
In the name of Christ, our healer and our Light,
Who taught us to pray, saying…
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,
for thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
forever and ever. Amen.