Holy One,
As Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France burned this week, so many millions of us were bound together in heartbreak. As Notre Dame emerged damaged but not fully destroyed, so many millions were bound together in hope. As we consider Paris and Notre Dame, we pray for fulfilling and fruitful work of healing and rebuilding; we pray that this rebuilding might continue to draw us all together in a community of care.
We realize that such unity is how you hold the world at every moment. You gaze upon us with such sorrow when we destroy the world that you created. You gaze upon us with such delight when we work to save and strengthen the kin-dom you promise . You hold us all in your embrace. We seek to be united as we were this week – but rather than united by bonds of horror-filled helplessness, we pray that we might be united by bonds of awestruck, peaceful rejoicing. Teach us how to care for this world that you loved so deeply that you died for it.
Lord, hear us and answer our prayer.
Teach us how to love this world through the bleakness of Holy Week and into the earth-shaking radiance of Easter morning.
Lord, hear us and answer our prayer.
As we read the Easter story, teach us how to care for women who are not believed when they tell their stories; for men who hide their fear and despair in order not to be seen as “weak”; for authorities who make decisions that send unseen ripple effects through the generations.
Lord, hear us and answer our prayer.
As we consider this world that you love, teach us how to care for those grieving after the bus accident in Madeira, Portugal for those affected by rockets in Tripoli, Libya; for those protesting in Khartoum, Sudan after political unrest; for those caught up in tension over the upcoming election in Ukraine; for those living with economic crisis in Venezuela, for those living with widespread violence in Yemen.
Lord, hear us and answer our prayer.
And this week particularly, teach us how to care for other sacred places under threat – for the 3 historic and historically black churches that were burned by a terrorist in Louisiana, USA; for the Al-Aqsa mosque that burned in Jerusalem, Israel; for synagogues after last fall’s mass shooting in Pittsburgh, USA; for the religious lands of indigenous people across the globe, which have been sacrificed countless times across the years for new developments and pipelines.
Lord, hear us and answer our prayer.
This week we acknowledge that darkness is real and that death will make a stand.
Lord, hear us and know that in the midst of such darkness and conflict, we trust in your light, love and power.
Yet this week we also declare with prayers and shouts, instruments and song, that death shall not have the final word. You are doing a new thing, even when all seems lost.
We pray these things because you are alive and with us. Living Lord, unseal the tomb, roll away the stone, and reveal to us how you are transforming the world.
Amen.
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