Dear Jesus, there is too much killing;

help us to embrace your words.

The enemy is instilling fear where there should be Your love, Your face.

Our stiff-necked pride inhibits a willing heart, an open mind.

Teach us to turn our weapons into plowshare grace.

Please help us meet our foes with prayer

and lead them into Your care.

 

Dear Father, let us cling to Your breast.

Let us see the individual faces not only of the victims

but of the culprits

instead of assigning them to faceless groups,

dehumanizing the innocent.

Please let this bloodshed not tear us apart

but bring us willingly closer to Your heart.

 

Charleston, South Carolina; Roseburg, Oregon; Colorado Springs, Colorado;

Palestine, Texas; now San Bernardino, California.

Too many to count, too often for well-being.

Those are just a few of the public slayings,

Not the private, family shootings,*

away from prying eyes

and cries of, “Spies!”

 

Dear Spirit, as I call on You for wisdom,

Please hear my prayer for us all.

Let Your love and grace and mercies

seep deeply into our core.

Let Your steadfast compassion remain with us

as we mature in our faith.

Let Christ’s redemption not be in vain;

allow God’s overpowering love in us to remain.

 

 

And please, let’s not forget the third anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting coming up on December 14. Twenty seven were killed in Newtown, Connecticut – 20 children ages six and seven and six adults.

*According to ShootingTracker.com, there have been 355 mass shootings this year in the U.S. in 46 states in which four or more people were wounded or killed since January 1, 2015.