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  • Prayers for Vegas

    We wanted to prayerfully acknowledge the suffering and sorrow that confronts us this morning in the form of another mass shooting. There is fear, anger, divisiveness and violence infecting our country that we need to diligently respond to with prayer and compassion for one another. We share the words below and ask you to take a quiet moment and pray them at some point today. They come from a UCC pastor, poet, and liturgist named Maren Tirabassi. Let us pray…

     

     

    For the Via Dolorosa that is Las Vegas today
    we pray, God who knows sorrow.
    For those who mourn the fifty who have died,
    we pray, God who comforts.
    For those who care for the hundreds injured,
    and those who wait by their beds,
    we pray, God our companion.
    For those who were making music,
    Jason Aldean and others,
    and for those who went to the
    Route 91 Harvest Festival for a good time,
    and now have memories
    playing chords of fear,
    we pray, God of joyful noise and sad songs.
    And for all of us –
    those who did not want this
    in their Monday morning news,
    those who grow more frightened
    of going into any crowd,
    those who knew or loved this shooter,
    those who fight for gun control,
    also emergency responders,
    police officers,
    triage nurses, surgeons, therapists,
    planners of large events,
    and many this morning
    who may never
    have been taught how to pray,
    we pray, God who listens
    not to words, but to hearts.
    Amen.

    *to learn more about Maren Tirabassi who was the poet laureate of Portsmouth, NH, go to this link: Maren Tirabassi