I’ve glimpsed the easy business
of power, God, and I am frightened.
It consumes the needs of the poor
like an appetizer, and flicks away
the clinging leftovers
for someone to wipe up.
Is this the place
to which you call the church;
to be, not brooms
to erase the crumbs,
but deep pots from which
nourishment is dished?
How do we plead
for your intervention,
your guidance?
Haven’t you been pleading
since the ancient prophets,
since Jesus of Nazareth,
now in our own faces
in our own time?
“But you don’t understand,”
we think …
Still, we whisper.
Whatever it takes, God.
Will you try again?
Guide us into your humanity,
that we, even us, this church,
may become and think like one
of your own, the least of these.
Our lament is also
a very deep concern
for political turmoil,
cultural upheaval,
and social unrest.
We are missing prayer
as many voices… together, corporate,
not alone in our apartments.
Yes, God hears our prayer …
but we gain from the communal.
We lament the losses
of connection to others
during this pandemic.
How long has it been
since we looked each other
in the smile?
How long since
friendship’s physical embrace
slowed our heart,
deepened our breath,
and enlivened our spirit?
How long since songs
flowed from hearts
across vocal cords
as our voices echoed
off the walls
and were absorbed
by one another’s bodies?
How long since our bodies felt
the familiar contour
of pew, cushion and floor,
or maybe choir loft chair;
since our eyes rested
on well-known architectural lines,
and the faces and shapes
of faith companions on the journey,
lit by refraction through stained-glass stories?
Knit us together,
O holy loom-keeper,
removing unjust thoughts
and actions.
Make us your people
and let us once again celebrate
Communion with bread and cup
shoulder to shoulder
and heart to heart.
Nourish us with your courage,
that we may be and become
your loaf and cup
for our hungry and thirsty world.
This lament was written by the Agape Circle Presbyterian Women’s group at First Presbyterian Church of Greeneville, Tennessee, in response to lesson 2 of the Horizons Bible Study “Into the Light.”
