A litany is a series of prayer requests to God typically made by a worship leader. These requests are called petitions. The people gathered for worship respond to the offered petitions with a repeated refrain. In this litany the refrain is the ancient liturgical prayer Kyrie eleison. This litany is offered as we begin October and Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
The Leader begins.
We pray to you, oh God,
LORD, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy for the people in our prayers.
God, we pray this day for those people living with any form of past, present, or ongoing violence,
Stop the violence,
Lead all people to safety,
Provide all who suffer with healing balm.
We pray to you, oh God,
LORD, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy for the people in our prayers.
For those people among us now, in our immediate environment, our church, our neighborhood, or community who today live with the ongoing pain, fear, perpetuated trauma, and victimization of domestic violence,
Give these people the inner strength to survive,
Help them protest without being hurt,
Send them help NOW,
Keep them alive in body, heart, soul, and mind.
We pray to you, oh God,
LORD, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy for the people in our prayers.
For all survivors of domestic violence in all its evil forms living throughout the world,
Settle their nervous systems,
Calm their bodies’ racing chemicals,
Make room within their hearts, bodies, souls, and minds for healing.
We pray to you, oh God,
LORD, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy for the people in our prayers.
For all domestic violence helpers and healers such as mental health clinicians, domestic violence shelter workers, hotline volunteers, trauma-informed body healers and therapists, givers of monetary donations, police personnel, teachers, emergency medical technicians, medical doctors, nurses, social workers, chaplains, pastors, researchers, and all others who provide aid, safety, and healing,
Help these helpers, healers, and those for whom we have not named to do no harm,
Send them courage, strength, and your power to both stop the violence and support the healing process of others,
Remind them to care for themselves each day so that they can fully care for others.
We pray to you, oh God,
LORD, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy for the people in our prayers.
For all people, including ourselves, who know or suspect current occurrences of domestic violence and do nothing,
Open our voices,
Project our words,
Turn our words into protests,
Pivot our protests into necessary actions.
We pray to you, oh God,
LORD, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy for the people in our prayers.
For all communities in Christ gathered around you God in Water, Word, and Meal,
Build true sanctuary within church walls for all victims and survivors of domestic violence,
Create within these walls environments for healing,
Ask all of us as Christians to participate in our own healing so we in turn provide healing for others.
We pray to you, oh God,
LORD, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy for the people in our prayers.
LORD, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy for the people in our prayers.
LORD, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy for the people in our prayers. Amen.
This prayer was first given to God on October 14, 2020 during chapel at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. My thanks go to Dr. Beverly Wallace for giving her students space for creative voice.
As with all liturgy, this litany has a life of its own. The words printed here will shift and change. Some will stay. Others will go. The litany, as is, is just a beginning. It changes to voice the needs of each context. If you use this litany in any form I ask that you attribute the work to me even if you add or modify the work. The attribution may look like: “Our litany today is based on a litany written by Jennifer Ohman-Rodriguez.” Please also let me know you are using it. Thank you.
Image by Diana Cibotari from Pixabay
Jennifer Ohman-Rodriguez 