Psalms and Prayers after an Assassination
After an assassination, we really ought to pray. By definition, an assassination is a surprise, a shocking and unexpected murder of a political or religious leader. We remember assassinations because we feel them personally; at the assassination of public figures, our minds and bodies participate in the shock. This shock produces anger, and anger can lead to disastrous reactions. Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, and all of Europe went to war.
But scripture tells us to “be angry, and do not sin” (Psalm 4:4, Ephesians 4:26). In prayer, we bring our anger to God, and God hears us and helps us. The psalms and the prayers of the Church offer abundant resources in the aftermath of an assassination. The psalms offer a language of suffering and lament, of refuge and faith, of justice and hope. And the prayers of the church reflect hard-won wisdom from the history of human sin; many saints have walked this path ahead of us.
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As Anglicans, we have an especially powerful resource in the Psalms and in the collects of the Book of Common Prayer, including a set of collects on the death of King Charles I, from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. The psalms and the collects below (from both the 2019 and 1662 Prayer Books) both lament murder and also remind us that we are all sinners who need to repent and rely upon the mercy of God.
Pray First
The first point is that we really ought to pray. After an assassination, we want to act, to speak, to do something to address the problem. But after an assassination, a leader is dead. No action, no words can bring him back. Yes, every assassination will prompt some necessary action, but first, we really ought to pray.
After any tragedy, there are always those who scorn the practice of prayer, arguing instead for action. But action need not exist apart from prayer. In fact, our actions will be more effective when guided by prayer.
Imagine what could happen if we didn’t pray. If we stopped praying, we might suppress our pain and let it fester into resentment. We might also become vulnerable to people who would exploit our pain for their own gain. Without prayer, we might try to cope with our pain by inflicting it on others.
Psalms After An Assassination
Much more than our typical prayers and hymns, the psalms bring the full range of human emotion to God, including lament for sin, the questioning of God’s timing, the cry for justice, and argumentation with God. At the same time as they express this wrestling with God, the psalms remind us to put our trust in God, our ultimate refuge in the midst of calamity.
Of the many relevant psalms, here I include nine. Each psalm is titled with a key phrase and includes a relevant verse. To read the whole psalm, click on the title.
Psalm 7: God is a Righteous Judge
God is a righteous judge,
Psalm 7:12-13
and a God who feels indignation every day.
If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword;
he has bent and readied his bow;
Psalm 27: Whom Shall I Fear?
The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Psalm 27:1
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?
Psalm 46: God is Our Refuge and Strength
God is our refuge and strength,
Psalm 46:1-2
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth give way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea.
Psalm 64: Shooting from Ambush at the Blameless
Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked,
Psalm 64:2-4
from the throng of evildoers,
who whet their tongues like swords,
who aim bitter words like arrows,
shooting from ambush at the blameless,
shooting at him suddenly and without fear.
Psalm 79: The Outpoured Blood of Your Servants
Why should the nations say,
Psalm 79:10
“Where is their God?”
Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants
be known among the nations before our eyes!
Psalm 90: Teach Us to Number Our Days
So teach us to number our days
Psalm 90:12-15
that we may get a heart of wisdom.
Return, O Lord! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
and for as many years as we have seen evil.
Psalm 94: God of Vengeance
O Lord, God of vengeance,
Psalm 94:1-3
O God of vengeance, shine forth!
Rise up, O judge of the earth;
repay to the proud what they deserve!
O Lord, how long shall the wicked,
how long shall the wicked exult?
Psalm 116: Precious in the Sight of the Lord
Precious in the sight of the Lord
Psalm 116:15-17
is the death of his saints.
O Lord, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your maidservant.
You have loosed my bonds.
I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving
and call on the name of the Lord.
Psalm 146: Put Not Your Trust in Princes
Put not your trust in princes,
Psalm 146:3-5
in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;
on that very day his plans perish.
Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God.
Prayers After An Assassination (selected from BCP 2019)
The following prayers are selected from the Occasional Prayers in the 2019 Book of Common Prayer (ages 646-683).
For The Spirit of Prayer
O Almighty God, you pour out on all who desire it the spirit of grace and of supplication: Deliver us, when we draw near to you, from coldness of heart and wandering of mind, that with steadfast thoughts and kindled affections we may worship you in spirit and in truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
For Our Enemies
O God, the Creator of all, whose Son commanded us to love our enemies: Lead them and us from prejudice to truth; deliver them and us from hatred, cruelty, and revenge; and in your good time enable us all to stand reconciled before you in Jesus Christ; in whose Name we pray. Amen.
In Times of Social Conflict or Distress
Increase, O God, the spirit of neighborliness among us, that in peril we may uphold one another, in suffering tend to one another, and homelessness, loneliness, or exile befriend one another. Grant us brave and enduring hearts that we may strengthen one another, until the disciplines and testings of these days are ended, and you again give peace in our time; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
For Those Who Inform Public Opinion
Almighty God, your truth endures from age to age: Direct in our time, we pray, those who speak where many listen and write what many read; that they may speak your truth to make the heart of this people wise, its mind discerning, and its will righteous; to the honor of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
For The Unrepentant
Merciful God, you desire not the death of sinners, but rather that they should turn to you and live; and through your only Son, you have revealed yourself as the God who pardons iniquity. Have mercy on the unrepentant and those who do not believe, especially ____. Awaken in them, by your Word and Holy Spirit, a deep sense of their sinfulness and peril. Take from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt of your Word. Grant them to know and feel that there is no other Name under heaven given among men by which they must be saved, but only the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so bring them home and number them among your children, that they may be yours for ever; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.
To Please God Rather Than Men
Our God, in whom we trust: Strengthen us not to regard overmuch who is for us who is against us, but to see to it that we be with you in everything we do. Amen.
For Help To Bear Bereavement
Heavenly Father, help us to entrust our loved ones to your care. Though sorrow darkens our lives, help us to look up to you, remembering the cloud of witnesses by which we are surrounded. And grant that we on earth, rejoicing ever in your presence, may share with them the rest and peace which your presence gives; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Prayers After An Assassination (selected from the BCP 1662)
The 1662 Book of Common Prayer was issued shortly after the restoration of the English monarchy under King Charles II. So it’s not surprising that the Prayer Book includes a special service in honor of the death of Charles I!
Strictly speaking, King Charles I was not assassinated. Parliament convicted and sentenced him to capital punishment. But the novelty of legal regicide certainly left much of English culture in shock, and the Prayer Book treats him as a martyr. Here are three of the collects appointed for the occasion. As you adapt these for an assassination today, note that the first collect works for any murder; the second and third apply specifically to the language of Christian martyrdom, and therefore would not be appropriate in most cases (one even wonders whether they were appropriate for Charles I!).
A Collect For Mercy After Murder
This first collect names the cruelty of murder, but in a striking inversion, it confesses the sins of the nation as ultimately responsible for that murder. It proceeds to pray for mercy, acknowledging that the only final expiation for bloodshed is the blood of Jesus.
Most mighty God, terrible in thy judgments, and wonderful in thy doings to the children of men; who in thy heavy displeasure didst suffer the life of ____________ to be taken away by the hands of cruel and bloody men: We thy sinful creatures here assembled before thee, do, in the behalf of all the people of this land, humbly confess, that they were the crying sins of this Nation, which brought down this heavy judgment upon us. But O God, when thou makest inquisition for blood, lay not the guilt for this innocent blood, (the shedding whereof nothing but the Blood of thy Son can expiate), lay it not to the charge of the people of this land; nor let it ever be required of us, or our posterity. Be merciful, O Lord, be merciful unto Thy people, whom thou hast redeemed, and be not angry with us forever: But pardon us for thy mercies’ sake, through the merits of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
A Collect on the Good Example of the Murdered
This collect, specific to the death of a Christian martyr, begins with a verse from Psalm 116, which reminds us that the death of the saints is precious in the sight of the Lord. It proceeds to consider how that death might also be precious to us, as we imitate the good example of the deceased saint.
Blessed Lord, in whose sight the death of thy saints is precious; we magnify thy name for the abundant grace bestowed upon our martyred ______________, by which he was enabled so cheerfully to follow the steps of his blessed Master and Savior, in a constant meek suffering of all barbarous indignities, and at last resisting unto blood, and even then, according to the same pattern, praying for his murderers. Let his memory, O Lord, be ever blessed among us, that we may follow the example of his courage and constancy, his meekness and patience, and great charity. And grant, that this our land may be freed from the vengeance of his righteous blood, and thy mercy glorified in the forgiveness of our sins: and all for Jesus Christ his sake, our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen.
A Collect on How Murder Can Teach Us
This collect, again particularly for a Christian martyr, reflects on the lessons we can learn from murder: that no one is secure from violence, that we ought to number our days, and that we are all sinners in need of God’s mercy to press forward and persevere to the end.
Almighty and everlasting God, whose righteousness is like the strong mountains, and thy judgments like the great deep; and who, by that barbarous murder committed on the person of ___________, hast taught us, that neither the greatest of Kings nor the best of men are more secure from violence than from natural death: Teach us also hereby to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. And grant that neither the splendor of any thing that is great, nor the conceit of any thing that is good in us, may withdraw our eyes from looking upon ourselves as sinful dust and ashes; but that, according to the example of this thy blessed Martyr, we may press forward towards the prize of the high calling that is before us, in faith and patience, humility and meekness, mortification and self-denial, charity and constant perseverance unto the end: And all this for thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake; to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honor and glory, world without end. Amen.
Image: Photo by Matt Artz on Unsplash.
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