I have no answers, only questions.
Is it denial or acceptance?
Where are you, God?
How do I honor the victims?
When I can see the end coming, what do I do? How do I say goodbye?
How do I let myself feel hope, when it might all crumble again?
How do I find the truth about why?
How am I complicit?
Where is my silence harmful?
Am I putting my head in the sand, or am I stemming my curiosity about things I don’t need to know?
How do I take care of myself, and care for the people around me?
How do we become the church, instead of being in the church?
Jesus taught us what to do by doing it.
Feed.
Heal.
Teach.
Visit.
Rest.
So go. Do that.
Sometimes I want to say, “All I can do is pray.” As if that is a small thing.
Praying for my own heart to be opened, because sometimes I hate people.
Praying for my enemies.
Praying for the person who one day may murder me.
Hear the names we offer to you, O Lord: Delaina Ashley Yaun, Paul Andre Michels, Xiaojie Tan, Daoyou Feng, Soon Chung Park, Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, and Yong Ae Yue.
For the lives that stopped in the flash of gunfire. May the names of the fallen stay on our lips. That the citizens of Acworth and Atlanta remain in our prayers as they mourn the lives lost, but also the loss of security as they go about daily life. For the children who are now afraid to be out in public.
Praying that we take our part in creating a collective love that overcomes the fear and evil which lead to violence that we don’t understand.
For the comfort and support of the families – that we acknowledge and uphold their grief.
That each act of violence open us all to a broader sense of our shared brother and sisterhood.
Leaning into trusting that God understands, far beyond our understanding, the evil we can’t explain.
God grant us the insight to understand our own complicity, and the complicity of our society for the acts of violence that are perpetrated against others.
And may the people say, “I will with God’s help.”
Lead us toward true accountability that breaks down our inner and societal barriers.
And may the people say, “I will with God’s help.”
Through the wilderness of complicity and the renewal of accountability may we embody the liberation of the Way of Love, forging freedom for all in love.
May all God’s people say, “We will with God’s help.”
This prayer was written by our Friday Circle of Practice. You are invited to join this circle at any time. Sign up here.
