![\"StandingGroundimage\"](\"https:\/\/oshetablogs.files.wordpress.com\/2014\/02\/standinggroundimage.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nToday\u2019s addition to my Standing our ground\u2026in prayer <\/a>series,\u00a0 I\u2019m going to share a couple of beautiful prayers from my friends Kate Schell and Idelette McViker.\u00a0 Both are heartfelt and poignant lamentations and both moved me to tears. Today both prayers come from white women, because I believe it\u2019s important for the African-american community to see the our pain, our grief, our fears are seen, heard, and carried by our Caucasian sisters. I didn\u2019t feel like this at first.<\/p>\n When I put the call out for prayers from my friends I left the criteria wide open, \u201cpray how you feel led\u201d I said, and so many have come back lamentations, cries of pain and sorrow.\u00a0 For a moment this week, I thought, \u201cOh I should have assigned certain people to pray a certain way\u201d, but I\u2019ve realized it\u2019s important to create space where we can \u201ccarry each other\u2019s burdens\u201d.<\/p>\n Today\u2019s prayers are powerful in that Kate and Idelette are praying from hearts burdened by the injustice Stand-Your-Ground laws. It\u2019s meaningful because they are entering into a pain that they can easily avoid.\u00a0 It is holy because they\u2019re setting aside our comfort to extend comfort to the hurting with their words.<\/p>\n Today we\u2019ll hear two more lamentations and then on Monday I\u2019ll close out the series with a prayer of my own and some suggested next steps.<\/p>\n Kate is on of my Story Sisters and a very skilful Oxford comma user.\u00a0 She\u2019s thoughtful and we both share a deep, deep, love for cats.<\/p>\n Where are you among us, Lord?<\/strong><\/p>\n I see a nation that says all men are equal but doesn\u2019t practice that equality every day. I see the limits of my own privilege. I see myself as a child, thinking racism is dead. I see the many small ways I\u2019ve kept it alive.<\/p>\n Let us see you here, when we are prejudiced and naive. Let us open our eyes. Let us listen. Let us let the truth change our sight.<\/p>\n Lord, be the rage at a broken system.<\/p>\n I see mothers\u2019 arms empty as their sons are buried, fathers\u2019 empty eyes as their sons are sentenced.<\/p>\n Let us see you here, when the grief surges, and when the flowers wilt, and when the coverage lulls. Let us see you in the casserole dishes and praying friends. Let us see you in cherished memories. I see Cain and Abel struggling still. I see triggers pulled and caskets closed. I see early graves and prison terms. I see the questions that are never answered. I see the ache for justice that never comes.<\/p>\n Let us protect the innocent. Let us act justly and seek mercy and curb oppression.<\/p>\n Lord, be the wisdom in our legislation. Be the power to uproot prejudice.<\/p>\n I see a Church that says we all have imago Dei but still too often keeps its silence and segregation.<\/p>\n Let us see your image in every face. Let us see in black and white and all the shades between and beyond. Let us marvel at the richness of our heritages. Let us feast together and not be afraid.<\/p>\n Lord, be the table where we all have a seat. Be the call to a better kingdom.<\/p>\n Be here, among us now.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n I took today\u2019s title from Idelette\u2019s gorgeous lamentation, \u201cWhite Tears of Lament\u201d.\u00a0 She is the founder and visionary behind SheLovesmagazine.com. Born and raised in South Africa, she is passionate about justice and equality. She dreams of a planet where no women or girls are for sale. She also dream of a world where women and men are partners in doing the work that brings down a new Heaven on earth.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n My God, My God<\/p>\n How come so many of us shrug our responsibility<\/p>\n For the tragedies and the<\/p>\n The bloodlines that run straight from our oppression<\/p>\n to these boys lying dead on the streets?<\/p>\n How come we don\u2019t see the direct correlation<\/p>\n Between a position of skin superiority generations of us assumed<\/p>\n And filtrated through to the hearts of the ones we\u2019ve diminished?<\/p>\n How come we don\u2019t see the damage generations has done?<\/p>\n How come we dismiss it like it\u2019s nothing?<\/p>\n Like it\u2019s over and done with?<\/p>\n Just like we once \u2014<\/p>\n and not that long ago\u2013<\/p>\n Dismissed the humanity of<\/p>\n The maid and the gardener<\/p>\n The houseboy<\/p>\n The farm worker<\/p>\n The factory worker<\/p>\n The servant and<\/p>\n the slave?<\/p>\n How come we want to shake it off<\/p>\n still<\/p>\n Like it isn\u2019t ours to deal with?<\/p>\n How come we turn our faces<\/p>\n And harden our hearts<\/p>\n Flip the switch<\/p>\n And scroll to the next screen<\/p>\n Without pausing<\/p>\n Asking our hearts to be opened,<\/p>\n To see the pain<\/p>\n To feel the pain<\/p>\n And to weep through the pain<\/p>\n With our brothers and sisters?<\/p>\n Because if the fruits of our actions are served up on the asphalt in our cities<\/p>\n The hatred pouring from lips<\/p>\n And triggered hands<\/p>\n How can we not pour out oceans of tears<\/p>\n To wash up with so many, so broken<\/p>\n By the systems we were part of creating?<\/p>\n How come we don\u2019t eat the bitter fruit together and<\/p>\n Wail for the pain?<\/p>\n O, the pain!<\/p>\n How can our eyes be dry at a time like this?<\/p>\n How can we have our faces turned towards a heavenly sun<\/p>\n And not see the blood by our feet?<\/p>\n This is a time for tears<\/p>\n A season for lament<\/p>\n There\u2019s blood on the earth<\/p>\n And not enough white tears to help wash away the pain.<\/p>\n But why, O God, do we refuse to fall to our knees<\/p>\n And weep over our children.<\/p>\n Our children<\/p>\n Not \u201ctheir\u201d children.<\/p>\n Our children.<\/p>\n Children born to the earth<\/p>\n And to this air<\/p>\n That we share.<\/p>\n Why are we not more shaken<\/p>\n By the news<\/p>\n Of death after death after black boy death?<\/p>\n My God, My God,<\/p>\n Forgive us our indifference.<\/p>\n Forgive me<\/p>\n My dry white face.<\/p>\n These stories ask of me<\/p>\n They require my face,<\/p>\n My heart<\/p>\n Turned straight into the sorrow.<\/p>\n O God, You say,<\/p>\n If My people \u2026<\/p>\n Who are called by My Name<\/p>\n Will humble themselves<\/p>\n And pray \u2026 You will hear us<\/p>\n And You will heal our land.<\/p>\n But our prayers are empty<\/p>\n Without the humbling.<\/p>\n Falling at your feet<\/p>\n Asking your forgiveness<\/p>\n Now<\/p>\n For the way we have scarred and mangled hearts.<\/p>\n We belong to this sorrow together.<\/p>\n Forgive us, O Lord<\/p>\n Open our hearts,<\/p>\n Flood the dry land with our tears<\/p>\n Wash the blood from our hands<\/p>\n And heal our history.<\/p>\n Fill the chasms<\/p>\n With showers of our shared tears<\/p>\n Sorrow pouring out<\/p>\n Pouring pouring pouring out<\/p>\n Until the deep pain we have caused<\/p>\n Can be healed<\/p>\n Pouring<\/p>\n Until we have cried right into your promises<\/p>\n That you will hear the cries of your people.<\/p>\n And that you would forgive us our sins of omission<\/p>\n And division<\/p>\n For separating your world into white<\/p>\n And non-white.<\/p>\n How dare we?<\/p>\n You, who three-in-One<\/p>\n Dance in unity<\/p>\n And Love.<\/p>\n O God, o God,<\/p>\n Forgive us<\/p>\n All of Your people.<\/p>\n Take our tears<\/p>\n And wipe the blood off our streets<\/p>\n That justice and Love<\/p>\n may rise.<\/p>\n Make us into One<\/p>\n Human family,<\/p>\n Just like we\u2019ve always been<\/p>\n But couldn\u2019t see.<\/p>\n May the tears from our hearts<\/p>\n Wash away the blindness<\/p>\n in our souls.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Lord, hear our cries of lament and meet us with your comfort! I\u2019m honored to host this space to bear one another\u2019s burdens and weep with those who weep.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n Standing for Shalom,<\/p>\n<\/a>
Kate Schell is a twentysomething journalist and a lover of all things cat and most things sci-fi. She blogs about faith and other stuff at kateschell.wordpress.com.<\/em><\/p>\n\n
\nLord, be the comfort for the mourning families.<\/p>\n\n
<\/a>White Tears of Lament<\/p>\n