It has happened again, God.
It has happened again.
Gunshots rang out, chunks of metal tore through precious bodies, young people and adults at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, reacted in fear and courage and love.
And when the shooting stopped Mason Schermerhorn, Christian Angulo, Richard Aspinwall and Christina Irimie lay dead; and at least nine other of your beloved children sustained wounds.
It has happened again, God.
Comfort loved ones who mourn. Hold the wounded in your healing care. Support family members and friends. Support first responders and the community. Guide the nation in the ways of peace.
It has happened again, God.
How long will we write those words? Read those words? Say those words? Hear those words? How long?
Inspire us, God. Inspire us to pray. Move us, God. Move us to act and to work for the day when we need no longer say, “It has happened again.”
This we ask in the name of the nonviolent Jesus. Amen.
At the time of this writing, the names of those wounded in the shooting have not been released.
PC(USA)-related resources to address gun violence
- “If We Just Talk of Thoughts and Prayers,” a hymn by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette; note that related hymns are referenced on the link
- The Presbyterian Peace Fellowship provides a variety of materials to help work to prevent gun violence
- Trigger: The Ripple Effect of Gun Violence is a documentary produced by Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
- Presbyterian Disaster Assistance provides additional materials about addressing public violence
- The Decade to End Gun Violence Working Group, formed by the Presbyterian Mission Agency offers various resources and limited grants to work for an end to gun violence
- The Presbyterian Outlook devoted an issue to the question of how people of faith can interrupt and rewrite the tragic American story of gun violence
