Prayers in the face of National Tragedy and Travesty

The following prayer was offered on the Passion of Red Lake on Good Friday by the United Methodist Church. The violence at Red Lake (MN) occurred in Holy Week, but is appropriate for the recent school violence.
By your agony
That we experience as our own.
By your bloody sweat and the fear in the garden
That we experience as our own.
By your cross and passion
That we experience as our own.
By your wounds and injuries
That we experience as our own.
By your thirst and pain
That our loved ones knew in the moment of violence.
By your death upon the cross
That we know painfully in the loss of
our children, our teachers, our friends,
and in the death of one who committed this violence,
Heal in us the deep wounds that violence has created in us.
The fabric of our community is torn.
Lord, have mercy.
The sense of school as a safe place has been ripped from us.
Christ, have mercy.
The mental chaos of senselessness, murder, and suicide devastate us.
Lord, have mercy.
We grasp for something to hold on to.
We are beside ourselves with grief and loss.
We cast ourselves upon your mercy, Lord Jesus Christ.
We dare to say, we "lay in dust life's glory dead,"
in the hope that "from the ground there blossoms red
life that shall endless be."
*Be to us, Love that will not let us go,
through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Faith groups offered their prayers and help to the Amish Community after the school shooting that took place with 6 girls now dead.


Lord,
we find ourselves in a myriad of feelings over the violence in our country these last weeks. We are saddened by the deaths of children, holding hostage children, violence and terror toward children in the recent school shootings. We are angry that someone would perpetrate such an act on children. And yet everyday some child experiences it in their home, their lives, their family, their church, and their school in a not so noticeable way. God, trusts have been betrayed, safety has been removed, fear has replaced these feelings. We are not only angry about these overt collossal acts,but the everyday abuses of children. And God there is this travesty in congress, A man in power sexually abusing a youth who does not have the power. We are angry we are sick about the ex congressman's behavior. We are sad that in his past he too was sexually abused. But the coverup, the unwillingness to get help by him, and those around him to get him to help is just unexcuseable. The cycle of abuse must be stopped, treated and healed so that it is not continued. Now another person or more lives are tainted. We pray that they get help. And God there may be more persons, more acts, more perpetrators involved. We pray for accountability, forgiveness, atonement, and redemption for all involved.
This sins, illnesses, and addictions need to be addressed, and the coverup stop. It is sad that the perpetrators in the school shootings and the Congressional sexual abuses were untreated, but God let this be a wake up call to us all to participate in your redemption of those who have been wounded in their past by violent acts or sexual abuse, and those who are perpetrating now. Your redemption and love is for all. Lord I was abused as I child, I too walk that line day in and day out. I thank you for those who have been part of my healing process. Forgive me when I abuse, keep healing me and redemning me as well. No one who has been abused wants to or means to abuse someone else, but left untreated and hidden will do so. God shine your light on the dark and hidden places of our life, and then heal us.