Daily Prayers for September 15

On September 15, 1963, a man later identified as Robert Chambliss placed a bomb under the steps of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Addie Mae Collins (14), Carole Robertson (14), Cynthia Wesley (14), and Denise McNair (11) were killed by the explosion, and twenty-two others were injured. The girls were attending Sunday school classes at the church. Chambliss was found not guilty of murder, but was given a hundred-dollar fine and six months in jail for having dynamite. He was retried in 1973 and received a life sentence for the bombing.

O Lord, let my soul rise up to meet you

as the day rises to meet the sun.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Come, let us bow down and bend the knee : let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.

Song “Poor Wayfaring Stranger”

How long, O Lord, will evildoers : harm your little ones?

Psalm 77:5 – 10

I consider the days of old : I remember the years long past;

I commune with my heart in the night : I ponder and search my mind.

Will the Lord cast me off for ever? : will he no more show his favor?

Has his loving-kindness come to an end for ever? : has his promise failed for evermore?

Has God forgotten to be gracious? : has he, in his anger, withheld his compassion?

And I said, “My grief is this : the right hand of the Most High has lost its power.”

How long, O Lord, will evildoers : harm your little ones?

Hosea 5:1 – 7 Matthew 8:1 – 17

How long, O Lord, will evildoers : harm your little ones?

A reading from the gospel according to Matthew:

A voice is heard in Ramah,

weeping and great mourning,

Rachel weeping for her children

and refusing to be comforted,

because they are no more.

Prayers for Others

Our Father

Lord, we weep with those who weep and refuse to be consoled. May our tears mix with yours in a river of justice, flowing down like mighty waters, transforming the world that is into the one that ought to be. Amen.

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you : wherever he may send you;

may he guide you through the wilderness : protect you through the storm;

may he bring you home rejoicing : at the wonders he has shown you;

may he bring you home rejoicing : once again into our doors.