Moment of Lament Resources
We are so glad that you are considering participating in the metro wide Moment of Lament on Nov. 17th. Here you will find a variety of resources to prepare for your church’s unique expression of lament around the 400th commemoration of enslaved Africans arriving in the American colonies. The only thing we ask is that if you plan to participate, please fill out the form located at the bottom of this page so we have a sense of how many churches are doing this TOGETHER for Richmond.
Introduction Video- Churches may wish to use this 45-second introduction video from David M. Bailey, Founder & Executive Director of Arrabon, to prepare their congregations for the time of lament. The video is available for download HERE.
Prayer of Lament- Corey Widmer, Lead Pastor of Third Church and Erin Rose, Associate Pastor of Worship & Teaching at East End Fellowship have developed prayers of lament based on both liturgical and oral church traditions. Please feel free to adapt these resources to your church’s unique culture. The texts can be downloaded HERE or you can scroll to the bottom of the page.
Music Resources- Many churches will sing a song to close out the time of lament. One possible song is “Purge Me” written by Richmond’s own Urban Doxology. A video of the song and lyrics can be found HERE. Sheet music in the original key can be found HERE. Sheet music in an alternative key can be found HERE.
Please fill out this form to indicate that you will be participating:
Current List of Participating Churches
City Church
St. Peter’s Episcopal Church
Mt. Tabor Baptist Church
Second Presbyterian Church
Cornerstone Assembly of God
The Fix Ministry
Christ Presbyterian Church
Spring Run Presbyterian Church
Third Church
Christ United Methodist Church
Harmony Vineyard Church
St. Giles
Richmond Hill
Ginter Park Baptist
Indian View Baptist Church
Huguenot Road Baptist Church
Northside Church
Redeemer Anglican Church
Hill City Church
Church Hill Activities and Tutoring (CHAT)
Area 10 Church
Abundant Life Church of Christ
Restoration Church
LUX Church
Vessels of Mercy International
Eternity Church
Movement Church
Crestwood Presbyterian
Stony Point Church
Good Shepherd Baptist Church
West End Assembly of God
Life Transformation Church
St. Ann Catholic Church
Saint Paul’s Baptist Church
Redemption Hill Church
East End Fellowship
The Branch
First Baptist Church
Branch’s Baptist Church
River City Church
West End Baptist Church
Prayer of Lament Text
A Prayer of Lament: VERSION 1 [Liturgical Tradition]
On the commemoration of the 400th anniversary
of the first Enslaved Africans arriving in the American colonies
Introduction
400 years ago this year, a ship arrived in Virginia, bearing human cargo. After being kidnapped from their villages in what is present-day Angola, about 350 men and women were forced onto a Portuguese slave ship bound for the New World. By the time the ship landed at Point Comfort, the English settlement that eventually became Virginia, only about 20 of the original 350 were still aboard, the rest having been stolen by pirates or perished at sea. The remaining 20 Africans were immediately sold as slaves. Thus began the long and brutal history of slavery on American soil.
In Virginia and the US, the 400th anniversary of the Africans’ first arrival to the United States is being commemorated this year in various ways. But as the church of Jesus Christ, we have a unique opportunity and responsibility. We may use this occasion to lament this broken and terrible part of our common history and to cry out to God for hope and healing in our land.
Lament is a biblical form of prayer that gives voice to the brokenness of our humanity, vocalizes pain and sorrow, and cries out to God for justice and healing. Today, we join with many churches all around the metro Richmond region, joining together in lament and intercession. While we have different backgrounds and perspectives, we can be unified in our grief over this sin of our past, our sorrow over the continuing racial brokenness in our society today, and our longing for Jesus Christ to bring his peace and healing.
Let us join together in prayer.
Prayer of Lament and Intercession
Leader: O Lord, hear our cry! You are our refuge and our strength, a present help in the time of trouble. Your power to save knows neither limit nor boundary; the arm of your might will never bend or break. We call on your power to save us today.
Everyone: God, this is the day of salvation!
Leader: Father, we acknowledge that 400 years have passed since the hundreds of African men and women were stolen from their homeland and forced to make a deadly voyage across the ocean. We grieve for the lives that were lost before arrival - the mothers, fathers, daughters and sons. We grieve for them and for the millions of African lives that were lost in the deadly Middle Passage over the two hundred years that followed.
Everyone: Father, have mercy on us.
Leader: Lord Jesus, we recall the twenty men and women who survived the voyage, only to be sold into slavery once their feet touched dry land. We grieve for them and also for the hundreds of thousands of Africans bought and sold on this land, including here in our city. We remember the men, women and children whose culture, language, heritage, and dignity were stripped from them mercilessly.
Everyone: Lord Jesus, have mercy on us.
Leader: Holy Spirit, we remember that even after slavery’s end, its legacy and power persisted through unjust laws, intimidation, and the hostility of human hearts. Over the years, dreams were stolen, lives were lost, freedoms robbed, and rights refused. Your gospel of grace, liberation and reconciliation has been diminished and denied.
Everyone: Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Leader: Let’s take a moment to silently reflect on the racial sins and sorrows of our land.
Silent Reflection
Leader: O Lord, hear our prayer! Forgive the sins of our nation and have mercy on our land. Destroy the evil that still holds us in its grasp. Save us from demonic powers that exalt one race over others. Redeem and release us from ignorance, selfishness, shame and fear. We renounce any agreement your Church has made with the kingdom of darkness that exalts power, wealth, and control above the supremacy of Jesus Christ. Come quickly, we pray, to revive us and make us new.
Everyone: Father, bring your salvation and justice!
Leader: O Lord, hear our prayer! Jesus Christ, you came for us, you lived for us, you died for us, you rose for us. You put to death all human hostility through your death on the cross to unite us and make us one through your grace. You have risen to life for our forgiveness, renewal and hope. Release your resurrection power among us to heal our land, our city, and our hearts.
Everyone: Lord Jesus, bring your salvation and justice!
Leader: O Lord, hear our prayer! Spirit of God, grant us the heart to weep with those who weep. Give us empathy and understanding. Create trust where there is pain. Give us the grace to persevere, to repent, to forgive, and to love. Empower us to love each other as Christ loved us - with humility and strength. Make your church—the church of metro Richmond—the united people you want us to be.
Everyone: Holy Spirit, bring your salvation and justice!
Leader: We long, O Lord, for your Kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. So now joining our hearts as one, we pray together that prayer that Jesus taught us, saying,
Our Father…
A Prayer of Lament: VERSION 2 [Oral Tradition]
On the commemoration of the 400th anniversary
of the first Enslaved Africans arriving in the American colonies
Introduction
400 years ago this year, a ship arrived in Virginia, bearing human cargo. After being kidnapped from their villages in what is present-day Angola, about 350 men and women were forced onto a Portuguese slave ship bound for the New World. By the time the ship landed at Point Comfort, the English settlement that eventually became Virginia, only about 20 of the original 350 were still aboard, the rest having been stolen by pirates or perished at sea. The remaining 20 Africans were immediately sold as slaves. Thus began the long and brutal history of slavery on American soil.
In Virginia and the US, the 400th anniversary of the Africans’ first arrival to the United States is being commemorated this year in various ways. But as the church of Jesus Christ, we have a unique opportunity and responsibility. We may use this occasion to lament this broken and terrible part of our common history and to cry out to God for hope and healing in our land.
Lament is a biblical form of prayer that gives voice to the brokenness of our humanity, vocalizes pain and sorrow, and cries out to God for justice and healing. Today, we join with many churches all around the metro Richmond region, joining together in lament and intercession. While we have different backgrounds and perspectives, we can be unified in our grief over this sin of our past, our sorrow over the continuing racial brokenness in our society today, and our longing for Jesus Christ to bring his peace and healing.
Let us join together in prayer.
The prayer leader may use the following prayer points to guide the prayer of lament
Introduction Paragraph:
Praise to God for his power and readiness to save those who are crying out in trouble.
Lament Paragraphs:
Remembering and grieving the many African lives that were lost in the travel across the Atlantic ocean, both in the first passage and then in the 200 years of the “middle passage”
Remembering and grieving the hundreds and thousands of African descendants sold into slavery in the US, including in Richmond. Grieving the culture, heritage and language that were lost.
Remembering and grieving the ongoing legacy of slavery in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, through Jim Crow Laws, systemic racism and injustice.
Add your own confession and laments
Provide a time of silence for people to remember and grieve
Intercession Paragraphs:
Ask for God’s forgiveness and help to redeem us from the ways that the sins of slavery still hold us and effect our hearts and our society today. For freedom from the ways that the church is still complicit with prejudice and racism
Petition for Jesus to bring his resurrection power to release our nation from the bondage and death of our heritage of slavery
Ask for God’s help to give us empathy and compassion for one another, and to bring unity to the church.
Add your own petitions
If your church uses the Lord’s prayer, you could pray it together to close the time, asking for the Kingdom of the Father to come.