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Thursday, November 1, 2018

A Prayer of Lamentation (From: No Ordinary Time by Jan Phillips, 2011)


A world once verdant is suffering, her oceans and rivers now poisoned.
Blind men rule with no mercy, and the sighted refuse to speak.
Children cry out with hunger, their tongues parched for water that's pure.
Do you hear the cry of my wailing? Like a widow I mourn day and night.

Enemies spring from our ignorance; armies rise up from our fear.
Forgetting we started as family, we draw boundaries and call brothers foes.
Great are you and All Glorious, Creator of heaven and earth.
HaShem, Holy Mother, Our Father,
I bow before you in tears.

Judge us not, but move us forward, past this era of weapons and war
Kneed us like dough in your hands, shape us into servants of truth.
Low is my head bowed in shame for all the ways we betray you.
Money and might have consumed us, our forests we’re trading for meat.

Nowhere are children safe from the clutch of capital’s claw
Our skin is parched and dry, because of the heat of our greed.
Politicians betray the people; religions have forgotten their role.
Quiet are the voices of reason while the hateful shout all night long.

Restore our sight, that we see our enemies more clearly.
Send us light and remove our blinders.
Though we fear the unknown, guide us toward it.
Until we find our common center, hope is lost.

Violence and terror are rampant; in your name we destroy and kill.
We bring guns not bread to the altar; our wine is the blood of our kin.
You have made a cosmos of grandeur; in our hands is this one world to shape.
Zealots of love awaken! Let your kindness spill over the land.

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