Psalm 130 ESV

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! O Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.

O Israel (America), hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is plentiful redemption. And he will redeem Israel (America) from all his iniquities.

This is my prayer for our nation today. Won’t you pray to the Lord with me for his mercy, his forgiveness, his redemption of our land?

Our hearts are all marked by iniquity – we are selfish, cruel, thoughtless, deceived, self-righteous. There’s not one among us without guilt before our holy God. And the result of our own neglect, our own racism, our own self-righteousness, our own self-justification, is the destruction of our land and the destruction of our trust.

Where is the assumption that all are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law?

O Church, where is our love for our neighbor?

Who can throw the first stone without guilty hands?

We must repent. We must seek forgiveness from God and from each other. We must fall on our knees and ask God to be merciful again, relying on his unfailing love and grace. We must consider others more important than ourselves – manifesting the love of Jesus in our communities.

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning…hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.

Amen.