Precious Lord, take my hand,
Lead me on, let me stand,
I am tired, I am weak, I am worn;
Through the storm, through the night,
Lead me on to the light,
Take my hand, precious Lord,
Lead me home.
Even as we sing, even as we pray, Precious Lord, our thoughts turn to those for whom ‘home’ has become an uncertain and unsafe place, for whom ‘home’ is but a hope-filled dream. For those of us who know this place of safety and comfort, our minds strain to comprehend what its loss means to so many, and so we turn our thoughts and hearts and hope to them this day.
- To all those in the path of Typhon Rammasun in the Pacific- the people of the Philippines who have already experienced its devastation and the people of coastal China, where its track is headed.
Have mercy, Lord, and lead them home.
- To the 450 children in Zamora, Mexico, who have been removed from a children’s home because they have been subjected to sexual abuse and forced to beg on the streets by the very people who were to be caring for them.
Have mercy, Lord, and lead them home.
- To the Palestinian people of Gaza, that ancient land, where the death tolls mount and 100,000 have been warned to leave their homes by the Israelis, in preparation for another bombardment.
Have mercy, Lord, and lead them home.
- To the forty detainees on hunger strikes at the Bagram detention facility in Afghanistan, detained in secret by the American military, with no legal rights and whose families are kept in the dark about their whereabouts and condition.
Have mercy, Lord, and lead them home.
- To those suffering with the soaring temperatures in England and Wales, on the eastern coast and southwest region of the United States.
Have mercy, Lord, and lead them home.
- To the people of Syria, Ukraine, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gaza, where so many have been forced from their homes and the lives they have known, only to become homeless refugees in strange and often-hostile places.
Have mercy, Lord, and lead them home.
- To the refugee children from Central America, fleeing violence and extreme poverty in their homelands, in the hope of a new home and welcome in the United States, only to be often met by hostility and anger and fear.
Have mercy, Lord, and lead them home.
- To the United States Navy nurse who has risked his career and the animus of others by refusing to force-feed hunger strike prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Have mercy, Lord, and lead them home.
- To all of the countless others, unknown to us but surely known to you, Benevolent God: those who roam the streets of cities everywhere with no place to lay their heads and nowhere to call their home; those in the grip of dark depression who have lost all hope of ever having a meaningful life; and those of us who are so far removed from the suffering of our sisters and brothers that we remain oblivious to what is their everyday reality.
Have mercy, Lord, and lead them home
When the darkness appears
And the night draws near,
And the day is past and gone,
At the river I stand,
Guide my feet, hold my hand,
Take my hand, precious Lord,
Lead me home.
Lead us all, home, Precious Lord, lead us home. Amen
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