Hands Beneath the Weight

Don't give me words that leave me here alone. Give me a place where I can set this down. Lord, let Your mercy move through flesh and bone. Let helping hands be where Your love is found. I know what heavy feels like; I don't need another stone. I need someone beside me who won't leave me with the load. Don't make a sermon of the wound before you hear the ache. Don't tell me how to carry what you will not help me take. A church can know the language and forget what it is for. Can sing about the table while the hurting wait outside the door. Lord, make us slow to answer when we haven't heard the pain. And quick to move toward someone with no promise of acclaim. I don't want a perfect people with a polished, spotless face. I want a people learning how to make some room for grace. Where truth is never buried just to keep a leader safe. Where love has hands that reach us when our shoulders start to shake. Put our hands beneath the weight. Let our knees meet dust beside them. Let the ones who came here hurting Find a place to breathe again. Lord, let mercy move among us, More than something that we say. When another shoulder buckles, Put our hands beneath the weight. I cannot heal another heart by telling it to hurry. I cannot make a shelter out of blame disguised as worry. Let listening be service; let confession name the wrong. Let change become the evidence that words have needed all along. No title gets exemption; no platform gets a pass. Let leaders face the questions they would rather no one ask. Let those who bear the damage have a voice we do not tame. Let those who did the hurting own the harm and name the change. And when my hands grow tired, Lord, remind me I need care. I'm not the one who saves them; I can help and still need prayer. We don't become a body by demanding strength from each. We learn to bear each other when the weak are in our reach. Some wounds will still need more time. Some trust must grow from truth. Don't let us rush the hurting To make the room feel healed. Let repentance reach our habits. Let the hidden come to light. Make us faithful in the waiting, With no audience in sight. HELP! Before you tell them to be strong. STAY! When the healing takes too long. Lord, let these hands Become an answer. Let mercy move. Let mercy cost. Put our hands beneath the WEIGHT. Let our knees meet dust beside them. Let the ones who came here hurting Find a place to breathe again. Lord, let mercy move among us, More than something that we say. When another shoulder buckles, Put our hands beneath the weight.