A minister's Prayer of Lament
O God, where were you when…?
We distorted your message of love
and mistakenly believed it to be narrow and scarce and
meant only for those who look and act and smell and feel
just the way we do…
When we were challenged in our narrow interpretation
of your grace and presence—
and instead of opening more fully to your embrace,
we entrenched ourselves in fear
and dug deeper into our rigid positions.
When we were offered more of your compassion
and still found it hard to soften our hearts.
O God where were you when cracks appeared…
and spread… and widened…
and hearts were broken,
lives torn asunder,
communities estranged.
You were there in the shards,
gathering us back together.
You were there in the clay—
when the form grew distorted
you rolled us back into a ball,
threw us back on the wheel,
reshaped us anew into vessels of your holy light.
Your light that shines in the darkness,
shines out of our cracks and broken places,
reminding us that your love remains even in the ashes.
The fires of your justice burn
in the hearts of those who challenge our assumptions,
and draw us forward into Love.
The queer prophet who opens our hearts and minds
to see you in new and surprising ways…
teaches us to recognize you in the most unexpected faces.
O God you are there in the anger and the fear and the uncertainty.
Hold us
Mold us
Release us from our fear
Love us back into the Light.
By Anne Hoganson
