Prayers Requested
Dear Friends,
We gather our prayers to mourn the tragic loss of 19 children and two teachers who were killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. May they rest in peace and rise in glory.
This horrific event reminds us of our duty as citizens to bring about a society that is filled with peace and justice, not violence and fear. At times, we can become desensitized to horrible acts of violence because of how often they appear on our tv screens, but this doesn't make them any less horrible. As we reflect on and mourn the loss of these young lives, perhaps this would be a great opportunity to evaluate what we might do as individuals and a community of faith to prevent something like this from happening in the future.
God our Father, you see your children growing up in an unsteady and confusing world: Show them that your ways give more life than the ways of the world, and that following you is better than chasing after selfish goals. Help them to take failure, not as a measure of their worth, but as a chance for a new start. Give them strength to hold their faith in you, and to keep alive their joy in your creation; through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen.
Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
Father of all, we pray to you for those lost at the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas and for all those whom we love but see no longer. Grant to them eternal rest. Let light perpetual shine upon them. May his soul and the souls of all the departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
The Clergy of St. John's Church
