I am silent, my Beloved, for my voice is wrapped in the cry of the poor. My tears are there in the prison cell, my might thinly veiled with the victims of war.


You do not hear me because I am whispering to them.


Holy One, I enter your silence as a temple.


May I hear your cry in my heart. May your song rise up in my throat as I liſt my voice for your justice. May I bear your mercy in my hands as I labor for your will. God of mercy, I will be your mercy, for you are my hope.


“Why is there no mercy?” can be read in several ways. One reader can read the fi rst and third stanzas, and a second reader the second stanza. Or three readers can each do one stanza. T e fi rst stanza could be divided up among several readers; the same is true of the last stanza.


Spare me


Lord, spare me from the comfort that would sedate me,


from the certainty that would dull me,


from the beauty that would blind me to injustice,


from the peace that would hide the world’s grief from me,


from the security that would frighten me from the edge of you.


Grant me the blessing to be unfi nished, discomforted, unknowing,


to be powerless for your grace, to ache for your little ones, to grieve with the Beloved, to empty myself into your heart.


Lord, spare me from my wishes, that I may be free for you.


Spare me from my little self, that I may be my divine self.


Spare me from my life, that, dying, I may become yours.


Amen.


“Spare me” is not exactly a lament, but it’s in that spirit of embracing the painful mysteries and seeking blessing in them. It could be read by a single reader, or two or three by stanzas. It could be read respon- sively by a leader and congregation; Boldface has been added to suggest one way to divide it.


Dust and ashes


Ashes are born of sorrow: the lament of our sin, the sadness of life spoiled and wasted, the grief of things burned up. Fall, little tear, for the loss you endure.


Ashes are born of mortality: the reminder that we have this little time


in which to shine our light before our light is out, our time is gone. Dear spark, the time to repent is now.


Ashes are born of humility: of hummus, our humanness, the dust of earth;


our common bond with living things who need our love;


our source in death, decay, and mystery. Holy dust, dark soil, now birth us forth.


Ashes are born of tenderness, for God knows how we are made and remembers that we are dust – how noble are even our poorest eff orts – and grants us grace. Fragile creature, your maker tends you with mercy.


As in the beginning, Lord, take up this dust from your good earth,


and breathe your life into us now, that we may be not ashes of a former giſt ,


but living fl ame, alight and animate and born anew each moment by your grace.


T is is another p actlly a men and ob


one doing t Copyr gh


and obviously ap Itt migh


might be r ad by


y a lalament but in tt in the same spirit, sly appropriate f r L e read by two reader


one doing the main parts and second reading t e inden d lines. T ey mig


nd reading the indented lines. might share the last stanza.


pyriight ©2013 Steve Garnaas-Holmes.


Permission is granted to reproduce in any form for worship use.


Hymn responses to lament psalms


Complied by Jean Fisk, Music Director and Organist at Pinole United Methodist Church, Pinole, CA.


Are you looking for alternative responses to the ones in T e United Methodist Hymnal psalter? Here are some suggestions:


PSALM UM HYMNAL 22


42 51


102 142


397 refrain 365 refrain 700 last line


TITLE


110 fi rst phrase A Mighty Fortress 117 last phrase O God Our Help


I Need T ee Ev’ry Hour Grace, Greater T an Sin Abide with Me


127 fi rst phrase Guide Me, O T ou Great Jehovah 110 fi rst line A Mighty Fortress


Suggestion: end the response on the tonic chord. For many more resources, go to www.umfellowship.org/Five


__________________________________________________________________________________________________ January-February 2014 • WorshipArts • www.UMFellowship.org


33


her poem that’s not ex- ate for Lent. d t the


t ex- aders,


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