Prayers of the People, Lent 5B

Grieving communities
mourn the loss
of their children
and young adults,
senseless violence and carelessness
taking the lives of innocents
in their prime.

Empowered teens
walk out
to remember their peers,
to call for reform ...
a plea to be heard,
to be valued,
to be protected.

Peurto Ricans
walk for miles
to carry water
and walk back home
to darkness,
still waiting,
six months after a hurricane
to be restored.

The exiled
remember and
call upon the name of
the Covenant-Maker,
the Covenant-Keeper,
the Source of Love.

Be present with your people,
Lord,
remember your covenant with them,
restore to them the hope of salvation,
and bring your exiled people home. ​