Lord, have mercy,
Christ, have mercy,
Lord, have mercy.
Once again, Holy One, we cry, how long, O Lord? We gasp, when will it end? Receive and hold our shock, sorrow, and anger in your eternally compassionate heart.
God of life, whose presence sustains us in every circumstance, As the sound of gunfire echoed across our neighborhoods, we seek the grounding power of your love and compassion.
We open our hearts in anger, sorrow, and hope: For those who have been lost: brothers and sisters, neighbors and friends. Your children, enjoying an evening of recreation and fellowship, Whose lives were ended or maimed in a hail of hatred and gunfire.
We pray for those who have been spared and those whose lives are changed forever, that they may find solace, sustenance, and strength in the hard days to come.
We pray forgiveness for our society that too often seems to tolerate violence. We pray for the timely apprehension of the perpetrator and for justice to prevail.
We give thanks for first responders, who ran toward gunfire, rather than away, who dropped everything to save the wounded and comfort survivors. Keep them safe. We pray for doctors, nurses, chaplains, clergy, and mental health providers, who repair what has been broken, who bring healing and hope in the face of the unchecked principalities and powers of violence.
God of the rainbow, once long ago, you stretched your light across the heavens to renew your covenant of peace with your people, you promised not to destroy. Help us in these days to believe that promise, and to participate in it, and to treasure the life which it treasures.
In the wake of an event that should be impossible to contemplate but which has become all too common in our experience, open our eyes, break our hearts, and turn our hands to the movements of your Spirit, that our anger and sorrow may unite in service to build a reign of peace, where the lion and the lamb may dwell together, and terror no longer hold sway over our common life.
In the name of Christ, our healer and our Light, we pray. Amen.
(Adapted from prayers by Rev. Laurie Ann Kraus | Associate Mission Director, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance)
BIBLE VERSES OF LAMENT AND COMFORT
Psalm 13
Psalm 23
Psalm 46
Psalm 139:1-18
Isaiah 40:6-11
Matthew 5:1-12
John 11:25-26
John 14:27
Romans 8:26-27
Rom. 8:31-39
2 Corinthians 12:8-10
Ephesians 4:25-5:2
Ephesians 6:10-17
Philippians 4:4-8
Revelation 21:1-7
