We collected tiny shards of glass
Smoothed by the sea
And carelessly tumbled onto the beach
By the ceaseless movement of waves.
Fragments of bottles
Thoughtlessly discarded and broken
By rock and wave.
I am reminded of the way that,
We too can be broken,
Broken into fragments
And yet,
Unlike the bottles
Still appear whole, undamaged.
Lord we pray
For all those whose lives
Have been broken by trauma.
Minds tormented by
Experiences beyond imagination,
Hearts made cold, frozen
By hurts and words
Replaying repeatedly and
Scoring ever deeper scars.
Loving God we cannot
Solve, resolve the hurts
Inflicted on others.
Yet we can be there
For those we know
Who suffer.
We can be careful
With our own words and actions.
We must seek not to discriminate, nor to judge,
But to listen carefully
And seek to heal.
Remind us too to bring
Ourselves,
With our own hurts and scars,
Our own concealed
Broken hopes and dreams.
Risen Christ, you willingly died
For our broken world.
You wept and sighed
Forgave and loved
Longing to bring the glue that mends
Rather than the hammer that breaks.
As we walk with you help us to be glue
And to look with love
On broken shards,
Our own and those of others,
And lift them up to you
For recognition and for
Restoration.
Amen.
Reading: Psalm 34
StF 693 Beauty for Brokenness
Prayers for May by Hazel Parsons
