Walking bridge over Lake Stumpf in Collegeville, Minnesota
Written during my recent participation in the Collegeville Institute’s writing workshop, Writing in the Age of Anxiety. Written for my fellow courageous writers and the welcoming staff who cared for us.
LAMENT
How long, O God? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I bear pain in my soul
and have sorrow in my heart all day long?
How long will anxiety hold me? Enter into me? Surround me?
Consider and answer me, O God!
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death while still alive,
and anxiety will say, “I have prevailed, I won, I am ruler of all”;
Rejoicing because I shake, tremble, and cannot move.
I trusted you, O God! Trusted in your steadfast love. Can my heart continue rejoicing in your grace and salvation during the depths of my despair?
I will sing to you, O God. Not because I feel your presence. But because you have dealt bountifully with me in the past and my hope lies in days soon to be. I stand before you now, wearing all that makes me anxious, sinking down. Not into the mire, but in humility to you. The One who created me in my entirety calling me “good” as I ask for your blessing.
BLESSING
God who knit all things together in the womb of creation bless my anxious spirit. Jesus who held hope for all of God’s people bless my grief. Holy Spirit whose energy guides me toward courage bless my meekness. +
SENDING
Beloveds, God’s kingdom continues to come near in our work of writing. Go and do. Amen.
(Adapted from Genesis 1, Psalm 13, Mark 1, & Matthew 5)
Jennifer Ohman-Rodriguez 