Rizpah

Rizpah...

Whose war takes my children from me?

Whose profit is paid for by lost generations?

Whose brutality leaves only a decaying vigil?

 

The days and nights between death and burial are long.

Yet, grief knows no measure.

The cells that knitted together inside my womb

Now disintegrate on our shared cloth of tears.

But, do not cry, my sons,

For my tears must be enough for you

Although they will never satisfy me.

I will carry your memory until I am forgotten

 

Prayer  –

We pray for those who grieve violence

For those who hold dead children in their arms

And for those who never receive remains

For those who search among the fallen

And those whose escape means never knowing

May those who grieve by comforted

 

We pray for those who perpetrate violence

For those who are are conscripted to wars

And for those who seek survival

For those who no longer remember tenderness of heart

And those who see monsters in the mirror

May those who wield swords choose plowshares

 

 

Truth-telling

formed of lies and deceptions:

Call us your children.

Cries for justice paint targets on our communities:

 

We pray:

For the persecutors, who reinforce privilege by dehumanizing those God loves

For the rich, who profit from labour practices that keep poor those God loves

For the powerful, whose identity is defined by superiority rather than humility

Have mercy, O God, restore dignity, worth, and humanity.

Amen