Walking quickly, head down, absorbed in thought … wonder what she’s thinking …
Is my child going to be okay?
I’ve got to get to work on time today?
I wish Mom and Dad were feeling better?
How are we going to pay the bills?
Why do we fight all the time?
What’s happening to my marriage?
What’s happening to me?
Her head is down …
He’s burdened, LORD.
There’s a weight on his shoulders …
Something dark and hard …
He doesn’t talk about it …
He says he’s okay …
He shrugs his shoulders and turns on TV …
He’s burdened, LORD …
Lehman Brothers belly up …
AIG bailed out …
Jobs, benefits, retirement plans …
Tough times for many …
Things upside down …
Some say: “We’ve been too greedy.”
“Too many risks taken.”
“Not enough accountability.”
We didn’t think … or did we think we might get away with it?
A trillion dollars … can’t even imagine …
I wonder, LORD … how many schools could have repaired or built?
Or bridges and roads?
Rail lines and subways?
Research and development?
Training for teachers?
Health care for everyone?
A trillion dollars …
LORD, what about our priorities?
What about my priorities, LORD?
Do I care … or do I just talk good?
How much of my life am I willing to give in order that others might have a slice of the pie?
LORD, help me search my soul!
Help us all, O LORD.
“We’re followers of the Prince of Peace,” we say.
“Of course we believe,” if someone should ask.
We say these things so easily …
LORD, help us to go deeper, higher in our thoughts and attitudes… to be more than lip-Christians, but hands and feet Christians … put our back into it … take up the burdens of faith, hope and love.
The refugee camp, O God, reaches to the horizon …
Tents and tarps, cardboard and tin, ten thousand tired faces …
The air dense with smoke and foul odor …
Children cry … children laugh …
A soccer game stirring up a cloud of dust …
Folks talk … folks wonder … far away from home … strangers in a strange land …
The young lady from France steps out of her tent …
An international aid worker …
Well-educated … good family … always wanted to do something good… she’s here now – to help ten thousand refugees – when’s the war going to end? … where are the doctors? … where’s the medicine? … is there any hope?… dirt creases her face, and she’s tired from too little sleep.
She’s a young lady, LORD, filled with visions of a better world – keep her safe, we pray, and safeguard her vision.
We give thanks, O LORD, for our place in time.
We’re here to worship you … to learn and grow in our faith …
To be comforted … but also disturbed …
To be consoled, but to be stirred and alerted as well …
To be forgiven … and to forgive those who’ve hurt us …
To receive mercy … and then to be merciful …
To have burdens lifted, so that we can take up our cross and follow you …
How shall we think, LORD?
How shall we live?
You said we’re the light of the world …
You said, “Let your light shine.”
How do we do that, LORD?
How do we do that?
This little light of mine,
I'm gonna let it shine
This little light of mine,
I'm gonna let it shine
This little light of mine,
I'm gonna let it shine
Let it shine,
Let it shine,
Let it shine.
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