I shared this prayer this monring as worship started. I add my prayer that I will never need to offer such a prayer again.
Loving and compassionate God, over these last ten days we
have seen lives and communities shattered by mass shootings; in a grocery store in Buffalo, NY, attempted in a Church in Laguna Woods, CA, and Tuesday at an Elementary School in Uvalde,
TX. There were 31 people killed. 31 more people to remember this Memorial Day
Weekend, 19 of the under the age of 11. We lift them up this morning by name.
Margus D. Morrison, 52, of Buffalo
Andre Mackniel, 53, of Auburn, New York
Aaron Salter, 55, of Lockport, New York
Geraldine Talley, 62, of Buffalo
Celestine Chaney, 65, of Buffalo
Heyward Patterson, 67, of Buffalo
Katherine Massey, 72, of Buffalo
Pearl Young, 77, of Buffalo
Ruth Whitfield, 86, of Buffalo
Dr. John Cheng
Makenna Lee Elrod, 10
Maranda Mathis, 11
Jose Manuel Flores Jr., 10
Tess Marie Mata, 10
Rojelio Torres, 10
Eliahna “Ellie” Amyah Garcia, 9
Eliahna A. Torres, 10
Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10
Jackie Cazares, 9
Uziyah Garcia
Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, 10
Maite Yuleana Rodriguez, 10
Jailah Nicole Silguero, 10
Irma Garcia, 48
Eva Mireles, 44
Amerie Jo Garza, 10
Alexandria “Lexi” Aniyah Rubio, 10
Alithia Ramirez, 10
We weep with the families and friends of these
victims, and with all others who also died in those days from acts of violence that
we never heard about. And we know you wept before we even knew.
Why do these lists grow O God? What is it about who we are, what we do or
don’t do that seems to be increasing the frequency and the deadliness of these
attacks? What must we change O God, where and how must we change?
For this is too much- too many times breaking
news has brought us reports of another one. Too many have grown numb or cynical
when they happen, sure that anything will change. There are too many people who
believe that this is just the way it is, the way of the world, and all we can
do is live with it. There are too many whose hearts are broken each time, who
are now missing a loved one at their table, or celebrating their birthday,
holding their child, all those little moments that mean so much to us. Those
small moments that make life so beautiful and deepen our connections with each
other and with you.
Your love will need to undergird our efforts
to successfully stem this, O God. We
will need humility to know there will not be just one solution. For this has
pervaded our society so long and so deeply that it will take actions in many
areas to untangle all that leads to such horrendous violence. It will take
time. Only you can provide us the love to refrain from well-rehearsed comments
and responses that lead us nowhere, and the humility to accept many of those solutions
already proposed may be needed together. There are other actions we will need
to take up that you will raise up if only we would let go of our biases and agenda.
Only you can provide us the grace to release our anger to make room for solutions.
Only you can release us from our numbness, our cynicism, and our fears. Only
you can keep us from our certainty, and our pride so we can talk with each
other, discern where we should go next, and do so for the good of all.
Today we lift to your care those who died,
those who EMS and police and medical personnel who now must live with the
images of these events, the loved ones and friends who are left behind, the
injured, and those through out our nation whose heart is broken by these last
10 days. Grant us the honesty to repent where we have been complicit through
action or inaction. We long for the day when these tragedies are so rare that
when one does occur, we must struggle to recall if another one has happened in
our lifetime. Bring us to that day O God, bring about that day.
Bring us to that day when you no longer have
to the first one to weep when this violence happens.
We pray this in the name of the one called the
Prince of Peace. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment