So often, Lord, the daily news leads me
to ponder and pray
for innocent children all 'round the world,
whose plight is our care, our duty and charge...
I pray for those children who suffer daily
bigotry's scourge, religious and racial,
the cruelty of terrorism,
the brutality of war,
the atrocity of bombings
and the tyranny of arms
to resolve all disputes...
I pray for children who are starving, Lord,
- not just those who are hungry -
but little ones dying of malnutrition,
with no clean water to bathe in or drink...
I pray for children who are homeless, Lord,
living in a shelter, a car or a lean-to,
living a roofless, bedless life
- existing, not living -
without a place to call their home,
without a home to call their own...
I pray for children in flight, on the road,
escaping danger and seeking asylum,
making their way in foreign lands,
where language and customs, resistance and bias
announce all too clearly,
"You're not welcome - go back!"
I pray for children abused and mistreated,
abandoned, trafficked, and left on their own,
with no one to help them to mend and to heal
the wounds in their bodies, their hearts and their souls...
I pray for children who wait to be born,
whose innocent hearts lub-dub in the womb,
and for mothers who bear the burden, the blessing
of labor, of love, and the mystery of life...
I pray for children who are sick and afflicted
whose tender young bodies are wracked by disease;
I pray for their comfort, their healing and health
and for those who work to cure and restore them...
I pray, too, Lord, for the child within,
the child who lives inside of us all;
I pray for a childlike spirit and heart,
a childlike wonder and thirst for joy...
I pray for a child's acceptance and love
of others who want to play and to share,
to laugh and make friends,
to explore and discover,
regardless of race, of color or creed,
regardless of gender, status or age,
regardless of national origin,
paying only attention to one great truth:
we are one, all your children,
one in spirit and love...
Protect us, Lord while we're awake
and watch over us while we sleep
that awake, we might keep watch with you
and asleep, rest in your peace...
Amen.
Two musical offerings tonight.
The first is Kathleen Thomerson's delightful hymn, I Want To Walk As A Child of the Light, the lyrics written from a child's perspective.
The second is John Bell's hymn, There Is A Place, written after a 1966 school shooting in Dunblane, Scotland where 16 children and their teacher lost their lives.
If two widgets doesn't appear below, click here!
I Want to Walk as A Child of the Light
performed by Chris Brunelle
There Is A Place by John Bell
There is a place prepared for little children
Those we once lived for, those we deeply mourn,
Those who from play, from learning and from laughter
Cruelly were torn.
There is a place where hands which held ours tightly
Now are released beyond all hurt and fear
Healed by that love which also feels our sorrow
Tear after tear.
There is a place where all the lost potential
Yields its full promise, finds its lost intent;
Silenced no more, young voices echo freely
As they were meant.
There is a place where God will hear our questions,
Suffer our anger, share our speechless grief.
Gently repair the innocence of loving
And of belief.
Jesus, who bids us to be like little children
Shields those our arms are yearning to embrace,
God will ensure that all are reunited;
There is a place.
Those we once lived for, those we deeply mourn,
Those who from play, from learning and from laughter
Cruelly were torn.
There is a place where hands which held ours tightly
Now are released beyond all hurt and fear
Healed by that love which also feels our sorrow
Tear after tear.
There is a place where all the lost potential
Yields its full promise, finds its lost intent;
Silenced no more, young voices echo freely
As they were meant.
There is a place where God will hear our questions,
Suffer our anger, share our speechless grief.
Gently repair the innocence of loving
And of belief.
Jesus, who bids us to be like little children
Shields those our arms are yearning to embrace,
God will ensure that all are reunited;
There is a place.
