Lest in the future our silence be held as witness against us we say

Here’s a new liturgical element we’re trying out, in the slot for Blessing for Redemption. We sang in between the chunk of lines, because singing/chanting helps our minds and hearts and mouths and breath get back in sync with one another. This is what we sang, a rewrite of a familiar line:

אַדֹנָי שְׂפְתַּי תִּפְתָּח
וּפִי יַגִּד הַאֶמֶת
Adonai sefatie tiftach
ufi yagid haemet
God, open up my lips
and my mouth will proclaim the truth

This time around, we read these lines one per person, or one line per one or two people. We also left space to add our own lines, which went on for some time, as we all clearly have so much anger about this stored up. Talking about it afterward, we all agreed it was very cathartic to say these truths aloud within prayer space and in a moment tied to the idea of redemption.