Violence, Evil, & the Power to Resist

I read/prayed this in both worship services this morning. Adapted/borrowed from Justin Coleman on Ministry Matters.

---------------------------------------------------------

Last Saturday night and early Sunday morning, the world experienced another violent act of evil. I don’t think you can call the murder of 49 people anything but evil. As a part of our Baptismal vows, we promise to “accept the freedom and power God gives [us] to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves.”

Today, we lament the loss of 49 of God’s beloved. Today, we cry out to God in grief, in anger, to seek understanding. As the Psalmist wrote:

“I cry out to you, Lord. 
You are my rock; don’t refuse to hear me. 
If you won’t talk to me, 
I’ll be just like those going down to the pit. 
Listen to my request for mercy when I cry out to you, 
when I lift up my hands to your holy inner sanctuary.” (Psalm 28:1-2)

I believe that God cries out as well. God mourns the loss of those men and women. God mourns the hate that perpetrated this awful act.

Today we pray for those killed. We pray for their families. We pray for those injured, traumatized, and terrorized by this tragedy. We pray for Orlando as they seek to heal. We pray for our nation, for our world that we would all accept the freedom and power to resist evil – the evil within each of us.

We pray for the eradication of hate. Hate and violence are products of evil.  They must be resisted like any other evil. With Christians and people of other faiths in the US and all the world, including Muslims, we unite against hate and violence toward any group. We pray that we may be witnesses to God’s love, mercy, care, and healing as we resist evil, as we continue Christ’s work of reconciliation, and as we seek to heal this broken & hurting world.

Lamb of God, 

you take away the sins of the world. 
Have mercy on us. 
Grant us peace.

For the unbearable toil of our sinful world, 
we plead for remission.
For the terror of absence from our beloved, 
we plead for your comfort.
For the scandalous presence of death in your creation, 
we plead for resurrection.

Lamb of God, 
you take away the sins of the world.
Have mercy on us. 
Grant us peace.
Come, Holy Spirit, and heal all that is broken in our lives, in our streets, and in our world.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

— from Common Prayer