Bishop Greg Rickel offers a Psalm of Lament put together by Kathryn Rickert and the Rev. Nigel Taber-Hamilton. He also adds his thoughts on the recent violence.
A Lament for our Nation: Psalm 11 2-3, 129: 1-5, Psalm 142: 1-2, adapted
We cry to You / with our voice; *
to You, O God, we make loud supp / lication.
We pour out our complaint / before God *
and tell You all / our distress.
Greatly have they oppressed me / since my youth, *
let / Israel now say;
Greatly have they oppressed me / since my youth, *
but they have not prevailed / against me.”
See how the wicked bend the bow and fit their arrows / to the string, *
to shoot from ambush at the / true of heart.
When the foundations are be / ing destroyed, *
what can the / righteous do?”
The LORD, the / Righteous One, *
has cut the cords / of the wicked.
Let them be put to shame / and thrown back, *
all those who are enem / ies of Zion.
We cry to You / with our voice; *
to You, O God, we make loud supp / lication.
We pour out our complaint / before God *
and tell You all / our distress.
Said Rickel, “This has been a bad week, on top of some of our worst ever. Once again, young black men died at the hands of police. This is becoming routine. Then, Dallas, where a sniper or snipers targeted police, and specifically white police. We have a serious problem. We have accepted a society in which problems are resolved through the use of guns. We have accepted a society that worships guns. And it is blasphemous and idolatrous. It has to change.
“We pray for the people of Baton Rouge, St. Paul, and Dallas and all those who once again mourn the heinous and senseless loss of loved ones due to gun violence and bigotry. Pray and don’t stop praying for the end of this, and even more a will on behalf of our country and our collective life to take action, to use reason, and compassion.”
