O sing to the Lord a new song, for the Lord has done marvelous things:
The Lord gifted some to be doctors and nurses that mend, that care, that journey with the terminally ill;
guide the hands and spirits of those that tend our healing.
The Lord gifted some for the work of rescue and recovery;
be present, O Lord, with the people searching, listening, hoping while moving debris from storms and from shaking ground.
The Lord gifted some for the work of teaching;
give an extra portion of patience and strength, O Lord, for the grading to be done, for the struggles with regulations, for the words of ‘goodbye’ to graduates.
The Lord gifted us to be good news;
examine our hearts, O Lord, and help humanity uncover your image within us to make justice happen, to love as you love, and live as though we meet you in the face of friend, stranger, and foe alike.
The Lord will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest.
We lift up people in Nepal and in Chile for whom creation has shaken, smothered, and buried.
We lift up people who loot:
from stores in their community,
from pensions in corporate bankruptcy or buyouts,
the public trust in our institutions through action and inaction.
Instill the will, O Lord, to build rather than take, to share rather than horde, to make justice happen rather than seek the retribution of redemptive violence.
We lift up the police that they will answer their call to serve and protect the property, lives, and dignity of all our citizens when cameras are watching and when they are not. When they cannot answer the calling, we trust they will cease service for our own good and theirs.
We lift up those that work to give peace a chance. May their ideas be as captivating as the images of violence that we consume and consume us all.
In you, O Lord, our ancestors trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them.
Deliver your creation again, O God.