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A Message from Rev. A. Vanessa Hawkins, Transitional Executive Presbyter.
Dear members and friends of the presbytery,
We deeply grieve as a presbytery that so many have lost their lives in recent mass shootings: African American siblings in Buffalo, NY; Presbyterian members at the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church; and elementary children and teachers in Uvalde, Texas. Mass shootings in the U.S. are becoming all too commonplace.
We pray, “May this senseless violence cease. Mend our brokenness – our desire to bring destruction and injury as a way of stopping our own hurt, pain, and brokenness. We lament for we know no other way to enter into this valley of deep sorrow than to lament our own feelings of helplessness. May our prayers hold up all those touched by this unspeakable tragedy. Lord, in your mercy. . . hear our prayer.”
Lord, please help us to find solutions to this problem. There is a way to put our lamenting into action. Help us to find a way in our context that will benefit all who live in this nation and beyond our borders. For this senselessness needs to stop and we all have a part in stopping it. May we become the instruments of your peace in those spaces and places that need it. With tears in our eyes and sorrow in our hearts, we chant the following words as our prayer to you. This hymn was recently written by Rev. Carolyn Winfrey Gillette to lament gun violence.
God, our nation feels the loss
as our children pay the cost
for the violence we accept,
for the silence we have kept.
Rachel weeps for children gone;
God of love, this can’t go on!
Jesus, Lord, we hear you say,
“Don’t turn little ones away!”
May we build a kinder land
where our children understand:
Every child here matters more
that the guns we clamor for.
Holy Spirit, wind and flame,
send us out in Jesus’ name.
May we shout and say, “Enough!”
May we build a world of love —
till the sounds of weapons cease,
till our young can grow in peace.
-Rev. Carolyn Winfrey Gillette
LORD, HEAR OUR PRAYER…
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