St. Arbucks Chapel- January 20, 2021 - Chapel Hill United Methodist Church

Litany for the Healing and Hope for the People of the United States

From our many places of gathering this morning, in our homes or in our church buildings, we come to this day to seek God’s healing and hope. Our hearts have been troubled, and perhaps, crushed. Lord Jesus, when we are overwhelmed by anger, grief and disbelief, we tend to ourselves in the ways we know best, with those we trust and whose interpretations of life events confirm our own. The events of January 6^th do not imply the beginning of a troubled nation but confirm that we are already a divided nation. No matter where we stand or which political side we take, through the power of the Holy Spirit, God has summoned all of us to be agents of healing and hope for our nation and the world.

Why this anguish now, in a pandemic season when we have lost so many lives and livelihood? God, do you see what we are doing to ourselves and one another?

Since we are created in the image of God, and sin has invaded our lives from the beginning, we acknowledge that we are tempted to turn on one another, objectify the other, and do violence to one another. God, we affirm all your creation and we celebrate them as good. We are grateful to be part of your family, all of us created in your own image. We decry our sinful nature as we lament images depicting our worst impulses. Our division has led us to verbal and physical violence in which we hurt ourselves and those around us.

Is this who we are, God? Is this our nation, the United States of America?

Does it depend on where we stand politically, what color of skin we were born with, or which region of the United States we come from? Maybe our strength in unity is built on something weak, something almost sinfully weak! Lord Jesus, do you see us? What is your answer?

The apostle John reminds us of Jesus’ encounter with the man at the Bethsaida pool. “Jesus asks him, do you want to get well? The sick man answered him, Sir, I don’t have anyone who can put me in the water when it is stirred up. When I’m trying to get to it, someone else has gotten in ahead of me” (Jn. 5:7).

Are we like that man, for almost 40 years by the pool, needing a miracle to happen in our presence? Perhaps we have waited too long? Are we ashamed to admit that we all have a part to play? God demands of us to turn together toward the healing presence and touch of Jesus Christ, who asks much of us as his disciples, and prepares us for the work ahead.

In times of trouble, the way won’t be easy, for anyone. No matter what the difference is, we must work together. Let our diversity become our channels of powerful healing to be done in every place. It is Jesus Christ who calls us to come together to confess, and to be healed. As healed people, we come for the purpose of the greater good, the work of a graceful God who calls us to action and to do the deep work of Christ’s healing touch.

God, pull us from the grave of blame, division, and violence, toward prospects of resurrection in this world and the one to come. We ask for faith and courage to authentically live out your kingdom here, as it is in heaven.