Day 9 - First Steps: Mourn

"I did not want to weep for Martin; 
tears seemed futile. 
But I may also have been afraid, 
and I could not have been the only one, 
that if I began to weep, 
I would not be able to stop."
James Baldwin, from I Am Not Your Negro: A Major Motion Picture, Directed by Raoul Peck, 2016. 

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Again I saw all the oppressions that are practiced under the sun. Look, the tears of the oppressed—with no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power—with no one to comfort them. 
Ecclesiastes 4:1

Mourn with those who mourn. Weep with those who weep. Attend a service of mourning or lament at a local church and pray for those whose hearts have been broken by racism and police violence. For a litany of mourning written by the congregation at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, visit
https://prayingwithjamesbaldwin.com/trinityucc-lament

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Take my hand, Lord, and carry me to the place of righteous suffering, if that is your will. Take my hand, and carry me to the place of mourning with those who mourn, protesting with those who protest, and dancing with those who dance, even in the darkest hour. Release my captive heart, that I might accompany the broken-hearted. Open my clenched hands, that I might trade my violence for your gentle grace. Move my feet, that I might meet those who already march on the road to justice. Show me the way. Amen.