This prayer originally appeared in "Psalm 23—Week 5: Shadow of Death."
Prayer of Lament
[The following prayer is interspersed with singing portions of “My Soul in Stillness Waits” Haugen.]
Throughout this prayer, after I pray the words “We wait and hope for you to banish these shadows,” we will sing together the chorus to “My Soul in Stillness Waits.” We will end the prayer with the first verse and chorus together.
Even though we know we don’t need to fear the shadows of death, that doesn’t mean we have to ignore them or pretend they don’t exist. Let’s come to God this morning, lamenting the shadows and praying for the light. Please pray with me.
Creator God, out of the darkness you spoke, and there was light; you banished the first shadows with the power of your Word. But humanity rejected partnership with the Light in favor of the shadows. We see the way shadows now darken your good creation: polluted waters, decimated forests, species extinction, and unbalanced ecosystems.
Lord, we lament these shadows, and we confess our part in them. Show us how to care for your creation so we can be bringers of light. We wait and hope for you to banish these shadows.
For you, O Lord, my soul in stillness waits; truly my hope is in you.
God, ruler of all the world, we trust in your sovereignty over the nations, but we lament the shadows of death that loom large in wars, oppression, terrorism, and corruption across the world. We pray in faith and hope for an end to these shadows, and we beg that the light of truth, justice, and peace would shine among the nations of our world. We wait and hope for you to banish these shadows.
For you, O Lord, my soul in stillness waits; truly my hope is in you.
King of kings and Lord of lords, we look closer to home and see shadows here too. We lament the shadow of partisanship that divides much of this nation and seems increasingly bitter. We pray for the men and women we elect to be guided by your light so they might promote the flourishing of all life. We wait and hope for you to banish these shadows.
For you, O Lord, my soul in stillness waits; truly my hope is in you.
Holy Spirit, our guide and comforter, whose coming heralded the dawn of the church, be with your church now. The same shadow of partisanship that affects our government has crept into your church in North America, dividing communities. Shadows of abuse, theological disunity, and idolatry creep into our sanctuaries. We beg you to bring your church into the light so it can be the light it is meant to be to a shadowed and dying world. We wait and hope for you to banish these shadows.
For you, O Lord, my soul in stillness waits; truly my hope is in you.
Father God, who cares for his children as only loving parents could, here in this space there are people walking through the valley of the shadow of death. Shadows of illness, broken relationships, bereavement, isolation, exhaustion, and despair threaten us. We lament these shadows in this room today. We pray against them and ask for your light. We wait and hope for you to banish these shadows.
For you, O Lord, my soul in stillness waits; truly my hope is in you.
God of light, in whose light we see light, bring us to the end of the valley of the shadow of death and into the radiance of your glory. Amen.
For you, O Lord, my soul in stillness waits; truly my hope is in you.
“My Soul in Stillness Waits”(st. 1) Haugen
—Bethany Besteman © 2022 ReformedWorship.org, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
