Psalm Sequence: Anger, Confession, and Mourning
Anger
Spitball: ill-treatment and passivity towards that ill treatment. Violence women: rape of girls. God where are you?? Husbands and wives who should be loving are destructive and abusive. Those abandoned when they are most vulnerable – when sick and destitute. Unfaithfulness – those who cheat and lie and betray those who trust them.
The congregation is invited to respond in the words written in bold.
God, we know you made men and women equally but everyday we see women mistreated. Young girls raped, treated as objects. We feel like you have let us down.
How could you let this happen when you promised to be with the vulnerable?
God, you created us to love each other. So often we love those who hurt us. People come into our lives and use and abuse as they please. Those who should care the most hurt us the most.
How could you let this happen when you promised to be with the vulnerable?
God, you promised us communal solidarity. You made friends, you made family. Yet so often we, when we are at our lowest, are abandoned by these people. Our safety net becomes a trap and we are locked in an isolated cycle.
How could you let this happen when you promised to be with the vulnerable?
Confession
Spitball: We are passive – we are like Simon who helps Jesus carry the cross but has nothing to say in the trial. Evil is engrained in our actions. We are cowards – we are like adam and eve who run and hide when faced with consequence. We perpetrate the status quo. Pharisees who persecuted Steven, taking that which doesn’t belong to us in the midst of injustice. Greedy – we are like Judas who sells out Jesus for the sake of a few coins.
Psalm of Confession
God of mercy, we come to confess our failure: our acceptance of our passivity. We play a role in the destruction of society that we so readily complain about. We are like Simon who helps Jesus carry the cross but remains quiet during his trial. We have allowed evil to pervade all of our actions and we are too afraid to accept the consequences. Like Adam and Eve who run and hide and like Judas who would rather die than face reality. We perpetrate the status quo whilst remaining indifferent. We are like the Pharisees who divide Steven’s garment whilst he is being murdered. We are seemingly incurably greedy, willing to sell out anyone for any measure of personal gain. We, again, are like Judas who sold out his friend for a few coins. Forgive us of these atrocities and transform us into channels of your peace, bearers of your cross and images of your likeness. Amen.
Mourning
Spitball: loss of loved ones. Lost land, lost humanity, lost identity and indigenous wisdom and knowledge systems. Nakedness, we have nothing left. Superficial things hold weight and bias. Exposure and loss of innocence. Colonial aspect. Degrading health in light of GMOs and the like.
