The Vanity of Our Hope

A reflection on the lives lost this week in Charleston, and the responsibility that we bear, either explicitly or implicitly:

God of justice,

We are told that heaven rejoices
over what has been found,
does heaven also weep for
what has been lost?

For the one whose heart
was lost in hatred,
and whose mind was
filled with empty lies?

For the nine lives that
were taken in an act
of unspeakable horror?

Does heaven also mourn
at the loss of our hope,
or does heaven simply sigh,
for that hope was
always vain and self-serving?

For we hoped that
things would get better
as time passed,
with no effort, and no cost,

We hoped to measure our lives
by the things that we have,
and not by the people that we ignore,

We hoped that it would
be enough to just not hate,
even if we could not really love.

Forgive us, Lord,
for the sin of settling for
something less than than
the full Kingdom of God,

But even more for the
greater sin of never
really wanting it at all.

Amen