A Litany for Marathon Healing and Hope from Trinity Church in Boston

From Trinity Church in Boston where we had the incredible gift of going to worship on Sunday before the marathon and received a blessing along with a beautiful performance of Chariots of Fire on the organ as the postlude.  

A Litany for Marathon Healing and Hope

A Litany of Healing and Hope

God of all comfort, in the midst of the confusion and fear of events surrounding us, we turn to you for the peace that only you can give, saying, Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

For the losses we have endured, for the sense of security destroyed, for wounded innocence and shattered dreams: Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

For those who lost their lives in the explosions, Martin, Krystle, and Lingzi, that they may rest in your peace; and for their families and friends who grieve their deaths: Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

For all those injured, those clinging to life, those whose bodies have been cruelly damaged, and those whose spirits have been broken: Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. For all those whose compassionate responses have mirrored your love, for runners, volunteers, and spectators who rushed to help the injured, for police, fire, and emergency responders, for hospital and medical personnel, for chaplains and counselors, for those who have opened their homes to visitors: Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

For those who continue to work to keep us safe and to bring to justice those who have perpetrated this horror, and because we are commanded to love our enemies, we also pray for those who inflicted this pain: Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

For renewal of hope and a sense of joy in the accomplishments of runners and all who affirm the goodness of your creation of bodies and spirits: Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

For strength and courage to face our fears and failings, to reach out to those who experience fear and violence every day, to extend your forgiveness and your peace wherever reconciliation is needed, and for the will to come together as a community to support each other in this and all times of suffering and loss: Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

O God, you have ordered this wondrous world, and you know all things in earth and heaven; so fill our hearts with trust in you that by day and by night, at all times and in all seasons, we may without fear commit ourselves and those for whom we pray to your never failing love, for this life and the life to come, through the one who came that we might have life and have it abundantly, Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

Trinity Church in the City of Boston * 206 Clarendon St * Boston, MA 02216 * 617.536.0944