Coronanvirus: A Lament

I was sad when they said to me, “Let us go up to the House of the Lord,” for the great congregation was no more.

I looked and I saw empty spaces where the elders once sat; and widows and orphans sat apart in silence, alone they sat as tears ran down our faces. Together we wept as alone we sat. Loneliness and tears are now our companions, our only friends are sorrow and grief.

Where are you, O Lord God of our ancestors? Where is your great power? Why have you turned your back on your people, walked away and rejected our prayers?

Look with pity on your people, O Lord, and turn back from your rage. Speak, O Lord, into the silence that surrounds us; in the emptiness make your voice heard. We have heard tell of your great love and together we sang your praise; but now we sing alone and our prayers return to us unheard.

Our computer screens mock us and our phone batteries die; our eyes strain and our backs ache. Our minds grow numb and our hands tremble; over keyboards without words our fingers shake. Our mouths turn dry and speech flees from our lips.

Our leaders abandon your ways; lies and deceit spew forth from their mouths. Rules they make and break them saying, “We did the right thing.” Science is their watchword whilst the scientists go unheard; “We follow the data,” they say, whilst truth is twisted and truth speakers are silenced. Hypocrisy reigns and whispers behind closed doors echo across the land.

Surely sadness and grief shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of my sorrow for ever; and we of all the nations on earth are become the most to be pitied.

Selah.