Jesus wept

As he came near and saw Jerusalem, Jesus wept.

As do we.

When he comes near Washington, and Ferguson, and Asheville, Jesus weeps.

As do we.

Jesus weeps as he comes near Damascus and Baghdad and Mosul; near Gaza and Tel Aviv; near Freetown and Monrovia;

As do we.

Jesus weeps near Tegucigalpa, Guatemala City and San Salvador; near Kiev and Donetsk and Moscow. “Would that you—yes you!—knew the things that make for peace!” he cries.

As do we—inasmuch as we can see.

We confess, O Christ, that we live among a blinded people in a blinding, binding world—

And we ourselves don’t see so well.

We dwell in a world whose heart has lost its rhythm and is threatened with arrest—

And our own halting, faltering hearts are afaint.

Strap a defibrillator to our chest! Restore optic nerve!

So that eyes pierce the fog of war and hearts pulse, restored, to the rhythm of your affection and the rule of your Word.

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Inspired by Luke 19:41-42 for a 2014 service following race riots in Ferguson, Mo., continuing civil war in Ukraine, Syria and Iraq, the outbreak of the Ebola virus in West Africa, and the flood of Central American child immigrants crossing from Mexico into the U.S.