Dear Church Family – Our hearts are heavy and our spirits grieved for the families of those killed at Abundant Life Christian School in Wisconsin Monday.
We’re praying…
· For comfort for the grieving families.
· For peace that passes understanding.
· For family and friends and pastors ministering to the grieving.
· For the other students and parents carrying one another’s burdens.
· For family and friends of the injured to lean into Your Spirit, not the spirit of anger.
· For the family and friends of the shooter.
· For wisdom, and grace, and sensitivity for Pastors and school officials and parents.
· For students like the shooter who feel hopeless, and unseen, and unloved.
· For families to raise children in loving, nurturing, intact families.
· That we will not give way to fear and hatred.
Seeking for direction and help in this Christian school shooting, I pulled a book off my shelf called “Everyday Prayers,” by Scotty Smith. It did not disappoint. Here’s excerpts from a page he wrote titled, “A Prayer About Voicing Our Groans and Hope.”
“Loving Father, I’m feeling many different things as this day begins. Images of horror and heartache…will not go away—and they shouldn’t go away…. As much as I would like to tune out, numb out, and check out, the gospel compels me to keep my heart present in the overwhelming distress and dimensions of this crisis.
“We have only our hope that You, our God, do not lie. In the cries of…people,…You bid us hear the faint but sure cry of hope.
“One day You will wipe away every tear from the eyes of Your people, and there will be no more death, or mourning, or crying, or pain (Rev 21:4). How long, O Lord? How long until that increasingly longed for day? Oh, that it could be today.
“But because of this hope, we will not tune out, numb out, or check out. We will seek to show up. Lead us, King Jesus. Lead us into Your work of redemption.
“We praise You that You do not despise our confusion, our despair, or even our railings against heaven and the mysteries of hard providence, but You give us all the gospel sanity we will need to follow You into the heart-wrenching brokenness and chaos. I pray in Jesus’ tender and trustworthy name. Amen.”
With love and trust – Pastor Tim
Comments