It is hard after a tragedy like the unprecedented Mosque attack in Christchurch to lead God's people in Sunday Worship. We are blessed and helped to have the great tradition of the psalmists who have gone before us... Psalm 34 and 35 which details the pain and sorrow of the exiles possibly with the destruction of Jerusalem and the horrors it would have entailed etched in their memories... But still with hope in God's goodness and faithfulness...
God
It is hard
to praise you today, it feels so dark around us
It is hard to pray today, our words fail us
and only tears well up
We are
shocked, and unable to comprehend, Our hearts full of sorrow,
Evil has
touched our land, hatred has raised its murderous head,
Fifty kiwi, Muslims at prayer, senselessly slaughtered in Christchurch
Like the
psalmist dragged from Jerusalem’s ruins we are downcast,
Our souls
are disturbed and heavy within us,
Like the
psalmist we turn to you, and we cry our in our pain
We know you
hear our prayers and listen to our cry,
In these
dark places, through all of life we know you are faithful
It is hard
to praise you, but we do, you are our hope.
You have
made all things Good,
But we
turned our back, we went our own way,
We disobeyed
and became broken and sinful
But You did
not give up on us
You sent
your son into this broken and hurting world
Not to
condemn but to bring new life
Jesus spoke
and showed the grace, love and justice of your kingdom
Dying on the
cross he paid the price for all we had done wrong
Being raised
to life again, new creation happens as we trust in you
you dwell with your people by your spirit
You are with
us, able to being comfort and care,
You are for
us, wanting to bring your light in our nation
By your
spirit empowering us to share your love
Holy God,
We confess, our
sin
We do not
love as we should
We do not
seek your justice and righteousness with all our being
We don’t
like it but those seeds of hate are in us all
We pray you
would forgive us and our nation, New Zealand
That you
would restore a right spirit within us
Righteous
God,
Thank you
that you are faithful and just
Thank you
that when we confess our sin you forgive and restore
Fill us
afresh this morning with your Holy Spirit
Enable us to
welcome and to love all people in Jesus Christ
To seek
reconciliation and justice in this land
To witness
to the hope we have in you
Compassionate
God,
We bring our
hurting land before you,
We pray for
the families and loved ones of the victims, that may know comfort
We pray for
the injured and those fighting for their life,
we ask your hand to be on them and with the
medical staff treating them
We pray for
the Muslim community in this land, that they will know peace
We thank you
for our police and emergency workers
They have
selflessly served, to protect and to care
reacting with training and adrenaline, and as
they know come to terms with the horror they have witnessed we pray for their
care and consolation
We pray for
our nation, that while we all have been attacked by this
That from it
might develop a greater sense of togetherness and compassion
Do not let racial hate and extremism win, we
pray that evil will be overcome by good to the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
Amen
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