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Dear GSPC congregation and friends,
As news of another school shooting reaches us, we find ourselves once again brokenhearted. The Covenant School is an elementary school connected to Covenant Presbyterian Church, a Presbyterian Church in America, congregation in Nashville, TN.
When I struggle to find the words to pray in the wake of such a horrific event, I turn to the Psalms. If you also are looking for words, I invite you to pray with me this prayer based on Psalm 121:1-2.
I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where will our help come?
Oh, Lord, who wept love-laden tears for this broken world,
Our hearts are aching today.
Those children.
Those adults who cared for them.
At a school.
At a church.
From where will our help come?
It would be unimaginable if we hadn’t seen it so often.
Our shock, our anger, our horror have all melted into deep and suffocating sorrow for your children lost,
the lives changed,
the community marred with a “before” and an “after.”
From where will our help come?
We know we all fall short of the glory that you intend for us,
but do we have to do it so often?
With such horrific consequences?
From where will our help come?
Our help comes in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth.
Make us better than this, God, for the sake of our children.
Bring us to our knees in confession and to our feet in movement toward a safer world.
Our help comes in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth.
Give us once again righteous anger,
unrelenting compassion,
and unflinching determination.
Protect us from complacency, despair, and cynicism.
Shield our children and all our citizens while we summon the courage and the will to work together for what is right and good.
Our help comes in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth.
Make us brave for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ
who never stopped loving this violent, broken, sinful world,
and never wavered in his mission to bring his kingdom to us.
Our help comes in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth.
Hep us beyond what we know to ask for, Lord,
as we follow a suffering Savior on this rocky path to resurrection.
Amen.
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