You are not alone… when people around you are struggling

Psalm 10

Article from Rev. Violet Cucciniello Little… [1]

In Revelation 21:4 we read “… God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”

Our hearts break when we feel the pain of others.

This week, people in our congregation mourned… the loss of a child, the loss of a spouse, a brother, a sister, a friend…

This week, people in our congregation faced health, emotional, and mental health challenges. Today, some people really wanted to come to worship, and some of you made it… but others couldn’t… and some haven’t been able to make it week after week for a long time…

All around us, people are really struggling.

And often, we’re at a loss to know what to do when people are struggling around us.

Our hearts break when we notice the struggles.

When we look up and read the signs of homeless people at every busy intersection in Saint Paul and Minneapolis. “Father of two, humble and in need, anything helps”

“Homeless vet, trying to recover from PTSD, please help” 

“Hungry and tired, can you help me?”

Our hearts break…

When another person has been shot by a police officer… and I am not directly touched, but I know someone who is… and we try to imagine the devastation of the circle of loved ones—if only he hadn’t been driving on that street that night, if only she hadn’t approached the car so quickly— and then we try to imagine the devastation of the police officers.

As his statement was released this week, and I reflected on his face, Officer Mohamed Noor looked like someone who would fit right in among us, or at one of the Iftar dinners we attended, and he wrote that he “takes the family’s loss seriously and keeps them in his daily thoughts and prayers.” I believe that… and our hearts break because in just a few seconds, so many lives were changed forever. And we wonder how this cycle of violence can be stopped?

We spend sleepless hours worrying about people… one after another… people who have deep conflicts with their partners or other family, those who are facing difficult health concerns, those who are traveling and worn out, those who are caught in addiction, those who are disappointed, those who feel disconnected, those who are going through transitions that aren’t welcome… In my sleepless nights, I worry about those who struggle and worry about all the things I wish I was doing better to reach out to them. Ever feel like that?  In those sleepless nights of worry and anxiety about others… we can feel very much alone.

When we pray Psalm 10, we pray the words of someone else who has had sleepless nights.

“Why, O God, do you stand far off?

Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

Don’t you see how the poor are suffering?

Meanwhile, we see all kinds of greed and bad behavior in the very highest places…
God, do something. Do not forget the oppressed.
    of those who suffer.
You offer them hope,
You offer them hope,
    and you pay attention
    to their cries for help.
    and everyone else in need,
    so that no one on earth
    can terrify others again.
When you think you ought to be God, you ought to know what to do, you ought to know how to get involved and help all those who are suffering... Whether you know what to do or not, you are not alone. As some of us learned at the “Come Together” evening two weeks ago, a first step can be opening up to see the struggles of others and practicing empathy. Then, based in that, trusting in God and working together, other actions can follow…

It’s like they think they can do anything they want and no one will ever hold them accountable.

They think you don’t exist and even if you did, you’re not going to do anything to intervene on behalf of those who need your presence and ability to change things for the better….

So, God, rise up!

Our deepest belief is that you do see.

You notice trouble and grief,

And here’s how this Psalm ends… beyond what we read earlier.

You listen to the longings

You defend orphans

You are not alone—when you see others struggling, you can know God sees too.

If you can’t access a sense of hope, you might go to the psalms (in about the middle of the Bible) and just scan them quickly, one by one, until you get to one that can be your prayer for today or in that sleepless night. And then stay with that one until you feel drawn to the next.

For those who rely on God but who wonder where God is, for those who really don’t believe in God… however you question God, however you cry out to God on behalf of others…

Rev. Little closed her writing with this thought and prayer:

“Now when I find myself with someone who is struggling, I sit and share the image of God that has given me so much comfort and strength over the years. And often I have placed their tears on my own cheek as a reminder of the God who indeed became flesh and still lives among us.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is despair, always may I proclaim your hope. Amen.”[2]

---

[1] Rev. Violet Cucciniello Little, child of God, serves as pastor and mission developer of the Welcome Church in Philadelphia. She is also a psycholtherapist and trainer for Women of the ELCA’s racial justice ministries. Gather magazine, May 2017, page. 26.

[2] A fuller version of the prayer of Saint Francis:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope; where there is sadness, joy. 
O divine One, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, 
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.