This is a poem written
by Rev. Marc Nelesen of Third Christian Reformed Church in Zeeland, Michigan,
in response to the disaster of Hurricane Katrina. You can find it online here. If indeed the way we pray
reflects who we think God is, may laments like this shape us as we pray them.
As I pray this today, I pray for the Philippines in the wake of Super Typhoon
Haiyan.
***
A
city weeps
and drowns in its tears
And your creation groans.
and drowns in its tears
And your creation groans.
Creation
groans
as chaos waters uncreate.
Cups of suffering overflow
filling the bowl that was once a city.
as chaos waters uncreate.
Cups of suffering overflow
filling the bowl that was once a city.
Creation
groans
as young and old - and families! -
are untimely ripped.
as young and old - and families! -
are untimely ripped.
The
earth convulses,
the waters roar and foam
in this broken act
of earthen terrorism.
the waters roar and foam
in this broken act
of earthen terrorism.
Where
are You in this?
Creation
groans - do you hear it?
Creation groans -
are you sleeping warm and dry in the belly of a boat?!
Are you “hovering over the waters” at a safe distance?
Can’t you do something about this calamity?
Will we all die?
Creation groans -
are you sleeping warm and dry in the belly of a boat?!
Are you “hovering over the waters” at a safe distance?
Can’t you do something about this calamity?
Will we all die?
Don’t
you hear us cry for the poor of the city?
Don’t you hear us cry for the homeless,
the lost and hungry?
Don’t you hear us cry for the homeless,
the lost and hungry?
Or
are the cries you hear from us a different kind?
Cries
about our wonderings:
of rising gas prices,
of the ripple effect in the economy,
and our uncertainty about the future -
a future we’ve been designing.
And worst of all
our selfish, Pseudo-Praise of
“Thank God it didn’t happen to us.”
of rising gas prices,
of the ripple effect in the economy,
and our uncertainty about the future -
a future we’ve been designing.
And worst of all
our selfish, Pseudo-Praise of
“Thank God it didn’t happen to us.”
Are
you lamenting right now
over our inability to truly lament?
Are you grieving our unfaith
to complain believingly?
over our inability to truly lament?
Are you grieving our unfaith
to complain believingly?
Something
must be said,
so creation groans.
so creation groans.
Creation
groans
offering words that we cannot express.
We dare not for we do not have the faith.
offering words that we cannot express.
We dare not for we do not have the faith.
Creation
groans yearning to be set free
from our voicelessness,
from our notions of prosperity,
and false security.
from our voicelessness,
from our notions of prosperity,
and false security.
Creation
groans:
It groans because you have become part of it.
It groans because you have become part of it.
Creation
groans
because it wants to be born again.
Creation groans
yearning for a glimpse
of the long-in-coming New City.
because it wants to be born again.
Creation groans
yearning for a glimpse
of the long-in-coming New City.
Creation
groans
because you are not in the wind
nor the storm
nor the tempest surge.
because you are not in the wind
nor the storm
nor the tempest surge.
Creation
groans
because you are in the orphaned child
the poor man
and the thirsty woman.
You are in the one whose sweat and tears
drip like blood
and fill the cup
and the bowl.
because you are in the orphaned child
the poor man
and the thirsty woman.
You are in the one whose sweat and tears
drip like blood
and fill the cup
and the bowl.
There
you are.
You and only You.
Creation groans
because the tears that fill the city
are yours.
You and only You.
Creation groans
because the tears that fill the city
are yours.
Lord,
have mercy on us.
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