Lament and Celebration

Dear Lord,

Sometimes we feel like Job. Like our world just keeps crumbling around us; or if it hasn’t yet, like at any moment it might. As the world spins and crumbles and we lose the things and people we hold dear, we are tempted to lose our faith as well. In the darkness of famine and crisis and abuse and war, we grow weary of trying to find our way without light.  Our friends and family say all the wrong things, we blame ourselves and those around us for the suffering inherent in a fallen world, and we refuse to turn our gaze towards you.

We confess this morning our weariness, our lack of faith, our doubts, our secrets. That we often default to fear, to divisiveness rather than community, to judgement and hatred rather than grace and hope. We confess that this week we have sinned, we have found fault, we have been short when we should have extended grace, we have called in debts even though we owe much ourselves. We have stumbled and we have faltered in our faithfulness towards you.

We are grateful this morning, Lord, that even when things crumble and even when we sin, you remain unmoved. You are the God of the Israelites, the God of Job. You are the tender Father who delights in our confession and extends forgiveness time and time again. Thank you that, even still today, you are always splitting the water so we can walk through to freedom and wash ourselves clean. We are submerged in the depths of you, afraid we might drown; until instead we find ourselves reborn, and finally free. Thank you Father for your tender mercies this morning and every morning and for covering us in your grace.

Amen

Hear this word of assurance from Psalm 62:
Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.  -Psalm 62:1-2