Benediction
(adapted from Psalm 25 but making it an ‘us’ prayer)
16 Turn to us and be gracious to us,
for we are lonely and afflicted.
17 Relieve the troubles of our hearts
and free us from our anguish.
18 Look on our affliction and our distress
and take away all our sins.
19 See how numerous are our enemies
and how fiercely they hate us!
20 Guard our lives and rescue us;
do not let us be put to shame, for we take refuge in you.
21 May integrity and uprightness protect us,
because our hope, Lord, is in you.
22 Deliver Israel, O God,
from all their troubles!
Reflection Questions:
1. When you hear Psalm 25:16-22, what about it resonates with your own prayers today?
2. I talked a lot about being ‘with’ in rejoicing and mourning, think of a time that someone was ‘with’ you in these ways. What did that mean for you?
3. Who is someone this week that you can be ‘with’ in their grief so that it may begin to turn into mourning?
