Every day this week, the news has sent me reeling with shock. The atrocities being committed by human beings upon other human beings, as well as upon other kinds of beings—including the very Earth—are so numerous and so terrible that I feel overwhelmed and unable to speak. I have expected these things to come to pass and yet I am still shocked, and I am afraid of what will be next.
As a minister, I have sometimes felt that my job is to give people hope even when times are dark. Sometimes that may be true. Sometimes. More often, my job is to be present to what is truly happening, and to name it as best I can. And to be present with my people, and help them be present with each other.
Today, I can’t give you hope. Today, I must be present to the grief and anger and pain that arise when the government of our own rich and powerful nation decides to begin bombing a country whose people are already suffering trauma beyond trauma. In that spirit, I offer you this prayer:
Spirit of Life,
Great immensity of love
in which we live and move
and have our being:
Sometimes there are no words
that can express the enormity
of our grief and outrage.
This is one of those times.
There is just so much.
So much that is evil and wrong.
So much that is cruel and hateful.
So much that is simply painful.
In times such as these, let us come together.
Let us sit in silence with candles lit.
Let our tears fall freely.
Let us not be afraid to break the silence with wails and sobs.
Let us hold each other while we weep.
This is how we make manifest
the love that will not let us go:
we hold on to one another.
For we can only get through this, together.
We can only change this, together.
Amen.