#BringThemHomeNow

Jun 17, 2015

Rebuilding Your Home: A Prayer for Charleston

Rebuilding Your Home: A Prayer for Charleston
(c) Rabbi Menachem Creditor

Dear God,

A church was built 
by former slaves
who would have revolted
hundreds of years ago today,[1]
their liberation thwarted
by those with power.

Today bullets tore through
Your House, Your Images,
ravaging the nobility 
of lives reclaimed.

Violence is not Your Way, Dear God.
And one of Your Servants,
nine of Your Images
are needlessly gone.

In anguish,
we protest in Your Holy Name,
remembering the command to choose life
is not a given in Your broken world
but rather a demand
upon us all.

Today we cry again
for "Mother Emanuel," [2]
(Mother-God-is-with-Us),
one of Your many homes
in Charleston.

Tonight we sing louder than weapons:
Those who sow in tears,
will reap, will reap in joy.[3]

God, give us the endurance
to end the insanity
ripping through thousands of bodies
and millions of souls.

May we merit to see You 
in each other's eyes
and sanctify Your Name
by standing together
by rising up again,
this time rebuilding Your Home
by saving each other's.

Amen.

_______
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denmark_Vesey#Failed_Uprising
[2] http://www.emanuelamechurch.org/
[3] Psalm 126:5

............................
Rabbi Menachem Creditor
menachemcreditor.org ▶netivotshalom.org
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