Blessed are those who mourn

 Oh God, You tell me 'Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.' Right now, I must be very blessed. I mourn. I mourn for wickedness, violence, evil. I mourn for a country tossed into a conflict it never asked for. I mourn for families whose children must hold a weapon, for mothers who long to protect their children, for fathers whose shoulders are weighed down by the crushing weight of a mounting war. I mourn for it all. 

And yet You don't tell me how I will be comforted, so I'd like to tell you how.  would you bring victory to the oppressed; boldness, daring, and power, to the invaded? Would you miraculously intervene and cause division in the ranks of the invaders? Would you bring to an end the violence of the wicked? Would you bring peace to those who long for, and fight for it? How about illness and death, I'm thinking, sudden heart-attacks, botulism, salmonella...you know, anything?! You are God with all power and creativity. Surely You can think of something. How is it that a global plague strikes our planet and many die, yet not a particular dictator? How is it that cancer strikes your servant, yet a power-hungry bully lives and breathes with ease in perfect health? Pardon me for praying for his demise, but I  can't think how better to pray.

I will be comforted when the power-hungry are brought low. I will be comforted when innocent citizens can go about their business in peace. I will be comforted when war ceases. 

There are whisperings in my heart: 'Why do you care so much?' 'Aren't there global conflicts every day, somewhere in the world?' 'You are removed from this horror, you have the option to be an ostrich and just go on with your day.' What a luxury it is to think these thoughts. To even have that option. But I am part of a larger family - not just the Logan family, the Crutchfield family, my community 'family', my Christian Faith family, but also the entire family of humans.

"The whole earth is groaning as in the pains of childbirth," writes the great apostle Paul.

Yes, yes it is. How we know it!

How we feel it!

How we see it!

I have been groaning in pains of childbirth before. And I found relief, comfort, even hope, through the miracle of an epidural. Where's the divine epidural, God? Where, how, when, will you intervene? O Lord, send your armies of angels. Encamp around those who fear You. Cause the enemy to fear You. 

O Lord, have mercy.

On Ukraine. 

On us.

On all who are broken, harmed, torn, weeping, groaning, lost, confused.

How we need your mercy!

How we need You!

Awaken the world!

Our hope cannot come from strategy. It cannot come from anything but You: the source of all hope, all peace, all joy, all love.

Send Your Spirit upon us to love what You love. To bear the fruit of peace in our world. To be ministers of reconciliation.

By Your Might. 

In Your Power.

Show the peoples of the world that they DO plot in vain. That everything is a striving after wind: Everything that isn't striving for what lasts through all eternity.

I see the world: it is harassed and helpless, like sheep without a Shepherd.

Yet, I have a Shepherd. 

This world seems to break under the strain of violence. Oh Lord, have mercy.

Jesus, You suffered violence. You know what it is like to endure injustice and oppression. Make Your way known in this time of suffering. Exalt the humble, bring the proud low.

Holy Spirit, comfort all who mourn. 

We need You, God.

This world needs You.

Amen.