Lament Spoken Word – November 2016
Lament – November 13th, 2016 – click here for audio
By Stephanie Williams
1. ADDRESS TO GOD’S CHARACTER
Oh God, you are our God.
Creator, provider, sustainer and King.
Messiah, Emmanuel, its to you that we sing.
Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the End,
We look to you, the great… I AM.
Oh God.. you are our God.
Lord over every single living thing,
You reign over all earthy queens and kings.
All those who promise with empty words that ring
never with full truth and deliver less
than they ever do to us express.
Oh God, you are our God.
You are the perfect parent, the most nurturing and strong.
You never grow weary of our cries no matter how long.
Your strong arms embrace us in our pain.
Once in your presence we are never the same.
Your cover us in the safety of your wings.
All things are made right when your Kingdom reigns.
Oh God, you are our God.
You’re presence is like the brightest light.
Darkness is not dark to you,
Even the night shines like the day to you,
For darkness is as light to you.
Oh God, you are our God.
Abba, Daddy… you never change.
Christos Victor, Ancient of Days
The Everlasting God, The God Who Sees
Our Shepherd, our Savior and our Peace,
El Shaddai, Jehova-Jirah, and Elohim.
Oh God… You are our God.
2. LAMENTS OR COMPLAINTS TO GOD
Oh God, Our God, why have you forsaken us?
Have you left us here alone thrashing in the darkness?
We can’t hear your voice, or know your loving-kindness.
Where are you?
Only silence fills the void, there’s not so much as a noise
as our cries fill the room tell us you’ll come to us soon.
Oh God, Our God, why have you forsaken us?
Division rips across our land like lighting fills the sky.
Do you sit there watching idly as the oppression presses in on every side?
God tell us that you see us, that you hear us as we cry!
Why can’t we relent from judgement and hurting those who bear your image?
Humans holding fiercely onto power and grasping onto selfish privilege?
Your children are hurting and full of torment.
Do you see them? can you hear them? DO you hear… US?
Oh God, our God, why have you forsaken us?
Do you see the hungry families, do you see the desperate child?
How do we love our neighbors when hatred’s running wild?
Do you know the fear of many, causing some to want to hide?
How can we mend what’s broken when destruction is so deep down inside?
Do you know our desperate longing for love free from shame?
Why must so many suffer receiving unnecessary blame?
God where is your justice, why does everything seem wrong?
Why does evil run unhindered, when you say that you are strong?
Do you see the little children wanting to learn and grow?
Do you see the gaps in education that they live in,
because their skin is the “wrong” shade of melanin.
That shouldn’t be a reason that they aren’t offered all that they need.
Food, a home, and an education, the ability to dream!
Oh God, our God, why have you forsaken us?
We lament to you the broken families, causing many to feel alone.
We cry out for broken bodies, with sickness cutting to the bone.
We express our deep longing for you to see those who feel as though they’ll never be set free,
Those who battle addiction, who feel as though they’ll never reach all they were meant to be.
Who feel that they’ve been given a prescription for despair.
Who feel abandonment and sorrow when love and mercy should be there.
Oh God, our God, why have you forsaken us?
Do you see the barren women, hopes dashed in clinic chairs?
Do you see the hopeful father, realizing a heartbeat is not there?
Do you see the broken marriage, where love is replaced with scorn?
Do you see those full of loss and grief with nothing left to do but mourn?
Do you see the lonely people wondering if their truly known?
In a crowded room of people but feeling utterly alone.
Do you see us as we struggle to overcome depression and anxious thoughts?
We want to live in freedom but it feels like our minds are bound up and caught
in lies about who we are, they follow us every where we go.
Bring relief for this pain, if there is an escape you must show
how this mental illness can be stopped from holding us back.
Where are you while we’re in bondage? We need you, We need you.
Oh God, our God, why have you forsaken us?
Do you see us as we wish desperately try to grasp all that we have?
Not sure if you will provide when we look down and all we see are empty hands?
What if we don’t make it and we can’t provide for those we love?
How can we move forward when push comes to shove?
You told us we could trust you but now we sit in loss,
Do you see us, actually see us or are you just going to gloss
Over us like we don’t matter. We’re you kids we need you, your direction and your guidance.
But we sit in torment wondering if you’re here at all, we’re longing for your presence.
Oh God, our God, why have you forsaken us?
Do you see our tears, as they stream without fail from our eyes?
Tell us, please tell us that your mighty ears, hear our cries.
We lay our laments before your throne asking that you will hold them.
We lay them down because in our weakness we have no strength left to shoulder them.
Catch our tears in the bowls of heaven for we cannot stop their flow.
We pour out our hearts to you oh God, because we have no where else to go.
Oh God, our God, why have you forsaken us?
CONFESSION OF TRUST IN GOD
Oh God, we trust you God.
Your faithfulness comes off the pages of the stories we’ve been told.
For ages and ages you have been faithful to those who approach your throne.
With reverence for your power, trusting you and your timing,
We turn our hearts to your promises that are binding.
Oh God, we trust you God.
Help us believe that you are there, that we can believe in your words.
In times like these, we need to know that what you’ve said is sure.
We know you see us and you hear us even when you feel far away.
We come to you, we offer to you, our trust and that we will stay,
in your service as kingdom people with a King whose mighty to save
All leaders pale in comparison to the strength found in your holy ways.
You watch us with your loving eyes, you hold us in your tender arms.
You can be trusted even when we doubt and when the darkness around us swarms
Oh God, we trust you God.
Help our unbelief when we are tempted to forget,
The ways you’ve brought us through till now.
We’re still here, you’ve shown us how
To live through all the pain and sorrow
and trust that you will be with us now and tomorrow.
We know that you see us,
We believe that we are known.
There is no where we can go from your presence,
We can go to the depths or to the heights we can be flown
But you will be there, you know when we rise and when we fall
You know everything about us, every detail you know it all.
May people say of us one day,
no matter what came their way,
they trusted their King, Jesus,
They didn’t rely on mere human leaders.
Oh God, we trust you God.
We remember what you’ve done for us,
Your body for us was broken.
Your blood for us was shed.
We trust in the freedom you unleashed on the cross as you bled.
Your work on the cross is the defining moment
You conquered death that’s why you were sent
revealing to us your eternal glory
Proving to us all that brokenness isn’t the end of the story.
Oh God, we trust you God.
REQUEST OF GOD TO ACT
Oh God, our God we bring you our requests…
Give us glimpses of your kingdom,
help us know that you are there.
Tell us that you hear our cries for freedom,
Give us the strength for the burdens that we bear.
Bring reconciliation where division has brought pain,
Help us forgive one another and let love and mercy reign.
Bring deliverance for those who need it and set the captives free.
Help us take our power and our privilege and have it transformed into radical humility.
Oh God, our God we bring you our requests…
Bring provision for those who need it, let no one go without.
Let no child go hungry and let our neighbors be free from doubt,
That they are wanted, loved and valued and can find a sense of home.
For those who fear for their safety bring protection, peace and shalom.
God replace hatred with your “chesed” loving-kindness
Give us eyes to see our neighbors made in your image and your likeness.
Heal the broken places within our world, our hearts and our minds.
We pray that you’d make wrong things right – your justice we will find.
Give opportunity for every pigment of skin to have a chance to learn,
Don’t let poverty keep our kids from a chance to be assured,
That they have value and they are precious in your sight.
That you watch their coming and their going throughout the day and night.
Oh God, our God we bring you our requests…
Comfort the lonely, the lost and the depressed.
Bring relief to those who feel distressed
dismayed, and without hope.
Give strength to those who need it and remind them with you they can cope.
Bring freedom from addiction and mental illness for those in despair.
Let them know that you are with them, but you must remind them you are there.
Oh God, our God we bring you our requests…
In the empty households fill the hearts that are longing,
for partners or for children, or a deeper sense of belonging.
Turn mourning into laughter,
Turn tears of pain into hope
Remind us that it is often after
the suffering we realize we have a different scope
of understanding of all that we’ve been though.
Show us that you were there all along.
Right beside us, always with us you never left us alone.
We ask that you will carry the burdens weighing us down,
Help us to walk freely and lightly and have the ability around
our neighbors to extend love, even when we are afraid
Give us the ability to forgive, even when the hurt is deeply laid.
We pray for healing in our streets.
Bring your kingdom to our land.
Revive your church from it’s slumber,
Remind us of our call to reach under
Every rock and boulder where your loved ones might be found
To let them know the good news that Jesus the King still has the crown.
OFFERING PRAISE TO GOD
Oh God, our God we praise you!
To you our Lord, we give our hearts and our souls.
We praise you in advance for the assurance you are bold.
Though we haven’t yet seen you respond to our requests,
We know you will make your face known to us in our distress.
Oh God, our God we praise you!
You are powerful and mighty and you deserve our highest praise,
You are intimate and loving and worthy of all the worship we can raise!
So hear our praises as we come together and we sing!
We declare to the world that you are our one and only king!
Lament – November 13th, 2016 – click here for audio
By Stephanie Williams
1. ADDRESS TO GOD’S CHARACTER
Oh God, you are our God.
Creator, provider, sustainer and King.
Messiah, Emmanuel, its to you that we sing.
Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the End,
We look to you, the great… I AM.
Oh God.. you are our God.
Lord over every single living thing,
You reign over all earthy queens and kings.
All those who promise with empty words that ring
never with full truth and deliver less
than they ever do to us express.
Oh God, you are our God.
You are the perfect parent, the most nurturing and strong.
You never grow weary of our cries no matter how long.
Your strong arms embrace us in our pain.
Once in your presence we are never the same.
Your cover us in the safety of your wings.
All things are made right when your Kingdom reigns.
Oh God, you are our God.
You’re presence is like the brightest light.
Darkness is not dark to you,
Even the night shines like the day to you,
For darkness is as light to you.
Oh God, you are our God.
Abba, Daddy… you never change.
Christos Victor, Ancient of Days
The Everlasting God, The God Who Sees
Our Shepherd, our Savior and our Peace,
El Shaddai, Jehova-Jirah, and Elohim.
Oh God… You are our God.
2. LAMENTS OR COMPLAINTS TO GOD
Oh God, Our God, why have you forsaken us?
Have you left us here alone thrashing in the darkness?
We can’t hear your voice, or know your loving-kindness.
Where are you?
Only silence fills the void, there’s not so much as a noise
as our cries fill the room tell us you’ll come to us soon.
Oh God, Our God, why have you forsaken us?
Division rips across our land like lighting fills the sky.
Do you sit there watching idly as the oppression presses in on every side?
God tell us that you see us, that you hear us as we cry!
Why can’t we relent from judgement and hurting those who bear your image?
Humans holding fiercely onto power and grasping onto selfish privilege?
Your children are hurting and full of torment.
Do you see them? can you hear them? DO you hear… US?
Oh God, our God, why have you forsaken us?
Do you see the hungry families, do you see the desperate child?
How do we love our neighbors when hatred’s running wild?
Do you know the fear of many, causing some to want to hide?
How can we mend what’s broken when destruction is so deep down inside?
Do you know our desperate longing for love free from shame?
Why must so many suffer receiving unnecessary blame?
God where is your justice, why does everything seem wrong?
Why does evil run unhindered, when you say that you are strong?
Do you see the little children wanting to learn and grow?
Do you see the gaps in education that they live in,
because their skin is the “wrong” shade of melanin.
That shouldn’t be a reason that they aren’t offered all that they need.
Food, a home, and an education, the ability to dream!
Oh God, our God, why have you forsaken us?
We lament to you the broken families, causing many to feel alone.
We cry out for broken bodies, with sickness cutting to the bone.
We express our deep longing for you to see those who feel as though they’ll never be set free,
Those who battle addiction, who feel as though they’ll never reach all they were meant to be.
Who feel that they’ve been given a prescription for despair.
Who feel abandonment and sorrow when love and mercy should be there.
Oh God, our God, why have you forsaken us?
Do you see the barren women, hopes dashed in clinic chairs?
Do you see the hopeful father, realizing a heartbeat is not there?
Do you see the broken marriage, where love is replaced with scorn?
Do you see those full of loss and grief with nothing left to do but mourn?
Do you see the lonely people wondering if their truly known?
In a crowded room of people but feeling utterly alone.
Do you see us as we struggle to overcome depression and anxious thoughts?
We want to live in freedom but it feels like our minds are bound up and caught
in lies about who we are, they follow us every where we go.
Bring relief for this pain, if there is an escape you must show
how this mental illness can be stopped from holding us back.
Where are you while we’re in bondage? We need you, We need you.
Oh God, our God, why have you forsaken us?
Do you see us as we wish desperately try to grasp all that we have?
Not sure if you will provide when we look down and all we see are empty hands?
What if we don’t make it and we can’t provide for those we love?
How can we move forward when push comes to shove?
You told us we could trust you but now we sit in loss,
Do you see us, actually see us or are you just going to gloss
Over us like we don’t matter. We’re you kids we need you, your direction and your guidance.
But we sit in torment wondering if you’re here at all, we’re longing for your presence.
Oh God, our God, why have you forsaken us?
Do you see our tears, as they stream without fail from our eyes?
Tell us, please tell us that your mighty ears, hear our cries.
We lay our laments before your throne asking that you will hold them.
We lay them down because in our weakness we have no strength left to shoulder them.
Catch our tears in the bowls of heaven for we cannot stop their flow.
We pour out our hearts to you oh God, because we have no where else to go.
Oh God, our God, why have you forsaken us?
CONFESSION OF TRUST IN GOD
Oh God, we trust you God.
Your faithfulness comes off the pages of the stories we’ve been told.
For ages and ages you have been faithful to those who approach your throne.
With reverence for your power, trusting you and your timing,
We turn our hearts to your promises that are binding.
Oh God, we trust you God.
Help us believe that you are there, that we can believe in your words.
In times like these, we need to know that what you’ve said is sure.
We know you see us and you hear us even when you feel far away.
We come to you, we offer to you, our trust and that we will stay,
in your service as kingdom people with a King whose mighty to save
All leaders pale in comparison to the strength found in your holy ways.
You watch us with your loving eyes, you hold us in your tender arms.
You can be trusted even when we doubt and when the darkness around us swarms
Oh God, we trust you God.
Help our unbelief when we are tempted to forget,
The ways you’ve brought us through till now.
We’re still here, you’ve shown us how
To live through all the pain and sorrow
and trust that you will be with us now and tomorrow.
We know that you see us,
We believe that we are known.
There is no where we can go from your presence,
We can go to the depths or to the heights we can be flown
But you will be there, you know when we rise and when we fall
You know everything about us, every detail you know it all.
May people say of us one day,
no matter what came their way,
they trusted their King, Jesus,
They didn’t rely on mere human leaders.
Oh God, we trust you God.
We remember what you’ve done for us,
Your body for us was broken.
Your blood for us was shed.
We trust in the freedom you unleashed on the cross as you bled.
Your work on the cross is the defining moment
You conquered death that’s why you were sent
revealing to us your eternal glory
Proving to us all that brokenness isn’t the end of the story.
Oh God, we trust you God.
REQUEST OF GOD TO ACT
Oh God, our God we bring you our requests…
Give us glimpses of your kingdom,
help us know that you are there.
Tell us that you hear our cries for freedom,
Give us the strength for the burdens that we bear.
Bring reconciliation where division has brought pain,
Help us forgive one another and let love and mercy reign.
Bring deliverance for those who need it and set the captives free.
Help us take our power and our privilege and have it transformed into radical humility.
Oh God, our God we bring you our requests…
Bring provision for those who need it, let no one go without.
Let no child go hungry and let our neighbors be free from doubt,
That they are wanted, loved and valued and can find a sense of home.
For those who fear for their safety bring protection, peace and shalom.
God replace hatred with your “chesed” loving-kindness
Give us eyes to see our neighbors made in your image and your likeness.
Heal the broken places within our world, our hearts and our minds.
We pray that you’d make wrong things right – your justice we will find.
Give opportunity for every pigment of skin to have a chance to learn,
Don’t let poverty keep our kids from a chance to be assured,
That they have value and they are precious in your sight.
That you watch their coming and their going throughout the day and night.
Oh God, our God we bring you our requests…
Comfort the lonely, the lost and the depressed.
Bring relief to those who feel distressed
dismayed, and without hope.
Give strength to those who need it and remind them with you they can cope.
Bring freedom from addiction and mental illness for those in despair.
Let them know that you are with them, but you must remind them you are there.
Oh God, our God we bring you our requests…
In the empty households fill the hearts that are longing,
for partners or for children, or a deeper sense of belonging.
Turn mourning into laughter,
Turn tears of pain into hope
Remind us that it is often after
the suffering we realize we have a different scope
of understanding of all that we’ve been though.
Show us that you were there all along.
Right beside us, always with us you never left us alone.
We ask that you will carry the burdens weighing us down,
Help us to walk freely and lightly and have the ability around
our neighbors to extend love, even when we are afraid
Give us the ability to forgive, even when the hurt is deeply laid.
We pray for healing in our streets.
Bring your kingdom to our land.
Revive your church from it’s slumber,
Remind us of our call to reach under
Every rock and boulder where your loved ones might be found
To let them know the good news that Jesus the King still has the crown.
OFFERING PRAISE TO GOD
Oh God, our God we praise you!
To you our Lord, we give our hearts and our souls.
We praise you in advance for the assurance you are bold.
Though we haven’t yet seen you respond to our requests,
We know you will make your face known to us in our distress.
Oh God, our God we praise you!
You are powerful and mighty and you deserve our highest praise,
You are intimate and loving and worthy of all the worship we can raise!
So hear our praises as we come together and we sing!
We declare to the world that you are our one and only king!