A Lament of Violence

My congregation is currently going through the Psalms of Lament. It's taking a toll on me. I suppose that's good. This coming Sunday we're having several folks in the congregation write and read laments on various aspects of our broken world. I was asked to do a lament on the subject of violence in whatever capacity I saw fit. This is the finished product. I warn you, it is not kind.

If not for the rainbow in the sky after each rain I'd fear You regretting once again to let us thrive upon this earth for there was once a time when we filled this blue and green orb with such violence that You responded with flooding waters that erased the cycle of pain Cain had started when man was east of Eden.

Yet I see the family tradition of killing brothers has not been defeated in your waters. How long shall Cain's murderous spirit thrive here? How long shall violence wear the crown on this earth? Where is peace? Where is the shalom you've promised us? Is it in Libya? Jerusalem? Iraq? Was it in Vietnam? London? New York? Will peace ever find Washington D.C. or erase the 20,000 nuclear weapons the world has stockpiled?

Stabbings, shootings, thievings, rapings. Where are you to be found? Children are abducted and made soldiers by initiation which demands cold blooded killings. Are you there? Drunken men throw their wives and babies into walls. Are you there? Police officers shove the faces of young black men into blacker pavement without question. Are you there? Thirteen year old girls push wire hangers inside their bodies. Are you there?

When shall man stop clinging to weapons while in fear? When shall man cease to teach that murder is wrong by means of execution? Where is your love, mercy or justice? How long shall wickedness thrive in our bedrooms, governments, schools, and streets? How long shall man be deaf to the cries of the blood that soaks the ground beneath ? How long will you leave us to be destroyed? When will you rescue us? How long shall we suffer and die? How long will violence thrive? Will you leave us to the cycle of death and the lie that violence redeems?

You said that swords and spears would become tools for farming and the bows of men would be bent to breaking. Yet lions are eating lambs and man is eating man. Can you even stop our mad obsession with violence, which we pour upon neighbors, enemies, and selves, or are we beyond the purifying waters you once poured out? Hear us when we cry "violence!" Father, deliver us from our traps and teeth and unclench all man's fists so we may live for we are surrounded on every side by violent men.