A Lament

Holy God, in the wake of the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut…the killing of 20 six and seven year olds, of a mother, of 6 teachers and principals and the suicide of a 20 year old…we pray for consolation and comfort; we pray for answers; we pray for healing to come.  We lift up the families of the slain children and ask that you come to them, especially, through the love of neighbors, strangers and friends who reach out with compassion and love to show them grace and to help them in their time of need.  We pray with the assurance of Jesus welcoming the children and blessing them that the children who have died are now safely and securely in the blessed arms of our savior.  We pray for our troubled nation for we have become a culture of want, yet we suffer such poverty of spirit.  Our children grow up too quickly, being exposed to far too much violence and reality before they are ready and able to process it all.  We have sacrificed our inner lives for meaningless busyness; sacrificed our spirits and souls to the numbing power of what we call entertainment; we have sacrificed the most basic need of a human, which is to be loved and connected to other humans in meaningful community, with personal ambition, success, and all of the ways in which we live for self at the expense of others, even at the expense of those we love.  Help us, O God.  In your mercy move us to a repentance for the forgiveness of self centered life, of consumer oriented living, of dehumanizing attitudes and activities, of preferring the impersonal relationship of technology to the desperately needed personal relationship of real conversation, touch, eye to eye contact, and the so very important gift of being present to one another in love. 

Gracious and merciful God, you are our refuge and strength.  Born a child, the joy of the world, you came to dwell among us in Jesus; who walked the roads of Galilee and Judea teaching love, justice, and mercy…living in community with everyone, especially the lowly and the rejected of society…rejected himself Jesus was arrested, tortured, and killed..he died a most excruciating and shameful death on a cross.  In your great love for your Son, he was raised and appeared to his disciples…his life was given by the Holy Spirit to us and we are his body in the world today.  May we love as Jesus loved; care for the downtrodden and the troubled and the hopeless and the powerless as Jesus cared for them; may we seek meaningful relationships with those we love and may we welcome community with our neighbors, even with strangers.  We pray for the residents of Newtown, Conn….for the children who are students at Sandy Hook Elementary School; we pray for their healing and for the healing of our nation’s heart and soul.  In the healing name of truth and grace, Jesus Christ, we pray.  AMEN.