Sacredise - Prayer: Through Our Tears

Through Our Tears

by John van de Laar

It’s not wrong to ask where you are, God,
    when innocent children go hungry,
        or are abducted as sexual slaves
        or die of curable diseases,
        or are forced to fight in adult wars;
It’s not wrong to question and doubt,
    to shake our fists and cry in grief and anger;

No, what would be wrong would be to just accept this
        as somehow “your will”,
    it would be wrong to justify it
        to explain it,
        to be unmoved by it,
        to deny it;

But it would be equally wrong to use this as evidence
        that you don’t exist or don’t care,
    to leave ourselves and our vulnerable ones
        at the mercy of our cynicism,
        our unbelief,
        our apathy;

And so we come, and we offer our worship,
        through our tears;
    We choose to praise you as a gracious and merciful God
        through our tears;
    We choose to proclaim your justice and salvation
        through our tears;
And as we do, we choose to believe that
        wherever there is suffering and injustice,
    your tears flow and your heart is broken,
        you cry in grief and shake in anger;
And it is your mercy and compassion that drives us,
        and others like us
    to work for healing and justice
        through the pain and burden of our tears.

Amen.

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