You gave me a dream one day, O Lord,
of midnight on a storming sea,
Hurricane winds blowing free,
washing up on an unprepared shore.
I watched as the waters swirled and rose,
huge swells washing all away
there in the darkness far from day,
The works of hands shattered in the water flows.
I watched how puny are the works we prize
The works of hands and sweat and dreams
Falling there beneath the streams
Nothing of man stopped the water's rise.
And yet, there on the water's face
Bobbing lightly as the waves moved on,
Survivors surfacing towards the dawn
Rafts and boats and planks and boards in place.
Even though wind tossed, and frightened there
even though battered in the night
they escaped into the light,
By the hand of loving care.
"My mercy," said the Lord to me
"I gave them refuge in my heart,
As the darkness took their world apart
Because they put their trust in me.
.
"Take care to understand and know
When darkness seems too dark to see
That I will hold you close to me
In darkest night, when storm winds blow
"If you will give your heart to me
To keep within my heart of love
You will always float above
The darkness of that midnight sea.
"Cling to my mercy now, this day,
The storm clouds gather, the darkness grows,
The seas are rising, the dark wind blows,
Come into my heart or wash away."
Lord,
forgive us,
a wayward and sin-stained mankind,
for the sin of letting angry people
rise among us,
setting them free
to kill the innocent
for love or lust,
for greed,
for self-righteousness,
for power,
for the sake of politcal stance,
for honor,
out of impatience and frustration,
expedience,
sometimes, even, in your name.
O Lord,
how the blood of Abel calls out,
joined by so many others,
such a loud cacaphony of human darkness.
Today, O Lord,
I offer up my remorse to you,
my tears,
for each life snuffed short,
each family twisted,
each mournful keening
echoing through the millenia,
the sackcloth and ashes of my lone heart
in repentance and sorrow at what we have wrought.
O Lord,
on this dark day,
I pray for your voice to touch each and every heart,
and show us what we do in truth,
help us to recoil from the blacknes we have wrought,
help us to repudiate the darkness
help us to choose your light.