Against the Swells: A Prayer for Relief from Violence

Artist Unknown

Oh God of the storm,
the swells are too much.

We are tiny boats in an unending sea
of furious, thrashing violence.
We’ve forgotten what peace feels like.

Every day we are tossed by another surge-
more names of babies being killed,
more sites where the ordinary turns to tragedy,
more children being torn from their families,
more elders seen as a virus to be eliminated.

The weight of it all is breaking us-
sinking our spirits
drowning our dreams,
destroying our families,
disorienting us from where we’re supposed to go.

Would you arise in authority!
Give us a reason to have faith again.
Usher in your prevailing peace,
show us that every storm must end.

We want to be wowed by your power
instead of our own capacity for bloodshed.

Amen.