Psalm of Mourning and Anger

The congregation is invited to respond in the words written in bold.

God we approach you heartbroken and naked. We have experienced such tremendous loss: we have been robbed from every inch of our being. God, where were you?

Our land was pulled out from under our feet. A resource we were willing to share was stolen from us. What was sacred has been defiled.

Where were you?

We’ve allowed the external to determine the internal. The colour of our skin, our age, our class, our genitalia, our language and our culture were made into instruments of death rather than life.

Where were you?

Innocence has become a tradeable commodity. Our children have been exposed to vast and deep darkness which they should be shielded from.

Where were you?

This story does not remain in the past. The ravaging of our bare bodies continues. The pain is sometimes more than we can bear. God, where are you?

We did the call and invocation in one:

Wozani, our people who are struggling
Wozani, our fathers who are working the earth but not eating the fruit of our labours
Wozani, our mothers who have to rise even earlier to fetch water that is further and further away
Wozani, our children who are tired from walking to school barefoot without any breakfast

(Drum beat)– Bayete, bayete, bayete, Nkosi, Makhosi!
Yebo, yebo, yebo!

We call on the Living God who toils beside us
You weep with us

You are the source of the living bread and living water;
Feed us, quench our thirst.

We come in the company of our ancestral spirits
Who offer protection, wealth and harmony
In the unity of the Body of Christ.

Amen.