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Today's text is a reworking of Psalm 44, spoken into our lives last March in a sermon during the first lockdown.\xa0 But as we sit in the second lockdown with more restrictions announced, it still seems pretty relevant in naming our lament.\xa0 So, Psalm 44, in our own words...

We have heard it with our own ears, O God.\xa0 Our ancestors and elder saints have told us what you did in their days, in days long ago.\xa0 With your hand you brought many of them from the crisis of a war-torn Europe to this new land of Canada.\xa0 Through the trials of immigration, you planted them here and caused them to flourish.\xa0

And though we sometimes forget, it was not by their language skills, determination, or business sense that they survived in this land.\xa0 No, it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face that accomplished it, for you loved them.

And even now, You are our King and Our God who decrees victory in Christ for your church.\xa0 Through you we received an identity and an inheritance as Your people.\xa0 Through You we have received provision and hope in the face of scarcity and death.\xa0\xa0\xa0

Through You these things even became tangible.\xa0 A church building was erected and a congregation of your people was established in this place.\xa0 Through you, we\u2019ve offered our prayers, our songs, our promises, our lives.\xa0 Through you our families and communities have grown and flourished as you\u2019ve blessed baptisms and marriages, fed us at your table, and as you\u2019ve received dearly loved saints into your arms at life\u2019s end.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0

And so in you, O God, we make our boast all day long, and we will praise your name forever.\xa0 For you have been faithful.

But right now, it feels like you have rejected and humbled us: you have made us retreat from our church building, from each other, and from our places of work and school and security before this enemy.\xa0 You have given us up, and so many others too across our city, country, and world, all to be devoured like sheep by this virus.

You have sold us into uncertainty for a pittance, gaining nothing from the sale.\xa0 You have made us a reproach to our neighbors as we avoid one another in fear on the streets.\xa0 You have scattered us all into isolation, away from community.\xa0 We suddenly live in fear, disgrace, and loneliness all day long because of this disease, this enemy that we cannot see.\xa0

And all this came upon us, even us your church, though we had not forgotten you; we had not been false to your covenant.\xa0 We are not perfect, but our hearts had not turned back; our feet had not strayed from your path.\xa0 But you crushed us all the same.\xa0 You covered us up with deep darkness, fear, and loneliness.\xa0

If we had forgotten the name of our God, or spread out our hands to idols\u2014you\u2019ve would\u2019ve known it!\xa0 You know everything!\xa0 And yet with your name upon us, marked as Christians, we face death all day long; we along with the whole rest of the world right now are as good as sheep marked for slaughter.\xa0

But this is not the way it\u2019s supposed to be!\xa0 Not in your Kingdom.\xa0 So Awake, Lord!\xa0 Why do you sleep?\xa0 Rouse yourself!\xa0 Do not reject us forever.\xa0 Why do you hide your face and forget our misery and oppression?\xa0 We are brought down to the dust; our bodies cling to the ground.\xa0 Rise up and help us; rescue us because of your unfailing love.\xa0 It\u2019s all we have to cling to.

That\u2019s Psalm 44, spoken into our lives last March, and spoken into our lives again today. If you were to put your lament to words like a Psalm, how would it go?\xa0 Try praying it out to God today.

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