When the going gets tough, the tough pray in procession
Litany is an early Christian response to uncertain times
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
‘Take up your cross and follow me.’
The Kyrie is among the oldest of Christian prayers. Litanies - a form of worship that is also a call and response prayer, were also used at the very earliest gatherings of the faithful.
(prayer = communication with God. worship = orientation towards God. Litany (litaneia) is both prayer and worship. A form of litany is said in many church services today, often called ‘Prayers of the People’).
As Christianity became the official religion of Rome, prayers in procession outside the church building became common.
Led by the cross, members walked the streets - often from sacred site to sacred site, where they would stop to pray - praying litanies in procession.
Litanies were often held to pray for God's blessing on crops or to seek divine protection during times of calamity such as famine, plague, or war.
In 398, Saint John Chrysostom, the Archbishop of Constantinople, famously instituted prayer processions and singing through the city streets. He emphasized the ‘broken and humble hearts’ of those singing.
It’s easy to feel helpless when things seem uncertain in our times. It’s hard to see how we can fix what feels broken between us - trust and peace and mutual respect.
Here’s what we can do: orient ourselves towards God.
Pray for our world, our neighbors, our families, ourselves.
Together.
The earliest Christians did it. All Christians can. You don’t even have to be Christian.
Pick up your cross and walk. And sing. And pray.
Even if it’s around your living room, your backyard, your neighborhood.
A Litany from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer:
The Supplication
For use as a separate devotion; especially in times of war, or of national anxiety, or of disaster.
(Worship leader says the lines in normal text, congregation says those in bold. Can also be done with just two voices, one taking each part. Or you can say the whole thing by yourself - although it is much more powerful in community).
O Lord, arise, help us;
And deliver us for thy Name's sake.
O God, we have heard with our ears, and our fathers have
declared unto us, the noble works that thou didst in their
days, and in the old time before them.
O Lord, arise, help us;
and deliver us for thy Name's sake.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy
Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.
O Lord, arise, help us;
and deliver us for thy Name's sake.
From our enemies defend us, O Christ;
Graciously behold our afflictions.
With pity behold the sorrows of our hearts;
Mercifully forgive the sins of thy people.
Favorably with mercy hear our prayers;
O Son of David, have mercy upon us.
Both now and ever vouchsafe to hear us, O Christ;
Graciously hear us, O Christ; graciously hear us, O Lord
Christ.
Let us pray.
We humbly beseech thee, O Father, mercifully to look upon
our infirmities; and, for the glory of thy Name, turn from us
all those evils that we most justly have deserved; and grant
that in all our troubles we may put our whole trust and
confidence in thy mercy, and evermore serve thee in holiness
and pureness of living, to thy honor and glory; through our
only Mediator and Advocate, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Hearts up!
