a blessing for a world that is unsafe for our children

a blessing for a world that is unsafe for our children

o God, our children are growing up in a world that isn’t safe, and families are under siege
amid dangers that affect every layer of our existence—physical, emotional, spiritual and financial.
we are not okay.

o God, save us!
come and meet our need as children, as parents,
to be safe and calm and able to care for the littlest among us.

God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.

blessed are we who pour out our grief,
who tell you exactly how bad it is,
how our backs are bent low from the weight of carrying too much,
how are minds are frayed from trying to keep going,
and how heavy our hearts, when we can’t make it better.

o God we lift up our children to you, and ask you to give them what we cannot.
we are yours—the whole of this messy humanity, your earthly creation.
take them up into your arms and us too.

awaken all the gifts among us:
guide the medical minds seeking a cure for this virus, and open the floodgates of funding,
stop those things that would come against its proper use, whether individual or systemic,
and establish good government among us, on the foundations you, o God, have laid
in the light of your truth and grace.

blessed are we who boldly ask:
strengthen us to act or pray, in whatever small way we can
to help put this right. or at least righter.

God will not crush those who are weak, or quench the smallest hope.
Matthew 12:20

God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.

when all that can be done, is done, let us lift our eyes to You for strength,
if only to stand, and to pray, and to endure.

“let the morning bring word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.” Psalm 143:8