Litany of Lament

From the Commission on Christian Worship:

The Commission on Christian Worship received the request from the General Secretary to draft a liturgy of lament following the action of the General Synod 2021, but as we discussed what we thought we were being asked to do we sensed we were actually being asked to draft a litany that could be included in a liturgy (service) of lament or as a special part of a Lord’s Day Worship Gathering. A liturgy may also come at a later date.

The Commission on Worship recognizes we may have missed some elements or included unclear elements in this litany that other commissions may have a better knowledge of and can impart correction or can fill in some gaps. This includes the Commission on Race and Ethnicity, Commission on Christian Action, the Commission on Theology, and the Commission on History.

The Commission on Christian Worship discussed the value of how specific the litany should be relative to the names and congregations that participated in the oppression of black, brown, and indigenous peoples of North America. This litany is mostly general but in certain parts does address some impersonal specifics. Thoughts on this are welcome from other commissions.

It may be appropriate prior to the service in which this litany is used or prior to the reading of this litany itself to offer a land acknowledgment. The following is one example:

(Name of Church or Ministry) occupies the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary lands of the (name of indigenous communities that traditionally lived on the land).

Download a pdf version

God of compassion,
open our eyes to see the suffering of others, past and present.
God of justice,
open our ears to hear those who cry out, past and present.
God of healing,
open our hearts to acknowledge and share our own pain and that of others, past and present.
God of truth,
open our lips to speak out loud the inward groaning of our hearts.

Almighty God, you wish to bring about justice and true peace among people.1
In humble sorrow, we pray on behalf of our denomination, our congregations and our communities. We confess and lament our role in the oppression of black, brown and indigenous people in North America from the early days of settlement up to this present age.2

Lord, come near to us in our grief.

O God, instead of admiring and learning from the indigenous peoples of North America, we have methodically worked to destroy them and their ways of life.

Lord, have mercy.

We acknowledge before you, O God, the intended and unintended devastation and suffering experienced by the indigenous peoples. We lament the lives taken by our forbearers’ weapons of war and infectious diseases.

Lord, have mercy.

We mourn the forcible removal of indigenous peoples who once lived where our denominational, regional and congregational gatherings take place today. We name before you the Lenape people of Manhattan, the Oneida people of upstate New York, the Odawa people of West Michigan, the Sioux people of Northwest Iowa and countless others across North America.3

Lord, have mercy.

We lament the trails of tears the indigenous peoples were forced to walk from their traditional homelands. We lament the misleading and unfulfilled treaties they received from our ancestors. We lament their unimaginable struggle to settle on arid and unfriendly lands.

Lord, have mercy.

We confess and lament when we do not stand with the indigenous peoples in our communities who continue to suffer today.4

Lord, have mercy.

A short chorus can be sung here.
A suggested piece is “Kyrie Eleison/ Lord, Have Mercy” found in Lift Up Your Hearts, #637.

O God, instead of admiring and learning from people of African descent, we devalued and discarded them for our own profit and comfort. We lament how it began for our denomination when people with black and brown skin arrived as cargo of the Dutch East India Company in New Netherlands.

Lord, have mercy.

We acknowledge before you, O God, the devastation and suffering experienced by the people of African descent in the name of building a new world. We lament the trauma experienced by the African men, women and children forced to embark the slave ship, the Gideon5, as it sailed from West Central Africa6 along the Middle Passage and to New Amsterdam. We lament the lives lost to scurvy, the lives tossed into the sea, the lives sold as property upon arrival.

Lord, have mercy.

We mourn how our pastors, elders, deacons and members practiced enmity and injustice against your children by enslaving them. We lament their humiliation when refused membership in our congregations, when forced to sit in the back rows for worship, and when served last at the Lord’s Table.7

Lord, have mercy.

We lament our denomination’s reluctance to take a stand against the institution of slavery8 and to join the abolitionist movement. How many more had to suffer because of our racial prejudice and moral cowardice to speak and act for justice?

Lord, have mercy.

We confess and lament when we do not stand with black and brown people in our communities who continue to suffer today.9

Lord, have mercy.

A short chorus can be sung here.
A suggested piece is “Kyrie Eleison/ Lord, Have Mercy” found in Lift Up Your Hearts, #637.

Almighty God, in humble sorrow we silence ourselves before you. Our words fail to express the horrors experienced by black, brown and indigenous peoples in North America. So much remains to be confessed and lamented, past and present, known and unknown.

Lord, come near to us in our grief.

Silence

Christ, you are the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.10
Inspire us to move forward with hope for new life in our communities.
Christ, you are one through whom all things were created and the one in whom all things hold together.
Empower us to strive for justice as we enter your kingdom on earth in our communities.
Christ, you are the one who reconciled all things by making peace through your blood shed on the cross.
Call us daily to enter your kingdom until you come again to complete your Beloved Community. Amen.

1 Belhar Confession, Article 4.
2 Minutes of General Synod, 2021, CA 21-3.
3 Local communities can insert their own contextual information here.
4 Belhar Confession, Article 4.
5 The story of this ship’s role in the Dutch East India Company is documented by the New Netherland’s Institute.
6 The exact location where men, women and children were forced to embark the ship remains unclear—most likely near present day Angola.
7 See Andrea Mosterman’s, Spaces of Enslavement, for her fine research on specific Dutch Reformed/ RCA congregations in New Amsterdam/ New York where these practices occurred.
8 The RCA took no official position on slavery until 1864 when it became clearer the Union would defeat the Confederacy in the Civil War.
9 Belhar Confession, Article 4.
10 This closing section is based on 1 Colossians 1:15-20.

Worship the Lord

The Liturgy of the Reformed Church in America

A treasury of prayers and primary resource for planning and leading worship in RCA congregations.