Liturgy For A Time of Crisis

Liturgy For A Time in Crisis

This is a blog that attempts to focus on the process of Christian spiritual formation in liturgy and catechesis.  In other words, there are times in which we may forget that the very liturgy and words used in worship are themselves instructive.  We can learn and be taught by the church what and how we should believe through the words and actions in worship. 

The events in our city of Orlando this past weeks leaves one absent of words.  There are times when words are just not sufficient.   Although words may not be sufficient to express the deep tragedy, brokenness, and sorrow of lives that are lost and cut short in death, there are words that the church brings to us to help us begin to reorient our lives back to God and back to a path of healing. I would like to offer two, a prayer that is very well known called the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, and a second Litany of Peace.  A Litany is a series of repetitive requests used in worship usually with a response from the people.  In this case the phrase that is repeated after each line of prayer is "let us be your peace, O Lord".  These are prayers that can be used in worship and calls us to Christian hope.

We live in a world that has still not reached the fulness of the kingdom.  We live in a world still marked by evil and sin.  While these tragedies are a reminder of these realities, the words of these two prayers remind us that God still reigns and is working in our lives so that nothing goes to waste. That God is at work renewing creation even in the midst of great tragedy.  That God calls us to a mission in this world, to seek God, to repentance, to love of God and neighbor.   Two short postscripts as well; first these liturgies are taken from a service of healing offered to the Orlando community by the Cathedral Church of St. Luke in Orlando, and second, news of another tragedy in Great Britain on June 16th should be noted.  MP Jo Cox was shot by a neo-nazi supporter in the campaign for the upcoming referendum.  Our hearts and throughs are likewise with her husband, her small children, the city of Leeds in their tragedy that cut the life short of a remarkable woman.   The two prayers are listed below:   

The Prayer of St Francis of Assisi

Lord, make us instruments of your peace.  Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.  Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love.  For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.  Amen

Litany of Peace

after each phrase, the response is used "let us be your peace, O Lord"

When injustice reduces us to retaliation:

When hatred overwhelms our consciences:

When violence rips our hearts to shreds of grief: 

When ignorance has its day:

When turmoil seizes our strength:

When discrimination and prejudice grows ever stronger:

When the innocent grieve their loss:

When hopelessness makes a home in us:

When wars rage and violence abounds:

When bitterness dines with us at table:

When blame pits us against one another:

When selfishness makes us run to shelter:

So we come to you to wipe tears away:

So we come to you to wipe slates clean:

So we rely on holy words and sacred thoughts:

So we commit ourselves to serve one another:

So our adversaries will be powerless in your love:

So we seek the wisdom you speak in our souls:

We will persevere in faith:

We will persevere in love:

We will persevere in wisdom: 

We will persevere in your call to justice.