Prayer for the shooting in Dayton, Ohio

(first we mourn, then we must act)

God, we are broken psalmists
for weeping came in the night
and more weeping comes in the morning.

We lift up in sorrow
all of those affected by the gun tragedy
in the Oregon district of Dayton, Ohio,
the two hundred, fifty-first
mass shooting of this year
in this United States.

Wrap your tenderness around
those who mourn
nine who have already died,
sixteen who are wounded.
These are not new numbers
in an era of violence,
but particular beloveds,
of family and friends,
out to dance or eat,
or walk in the summer warmth.

Hold them in your embrace,
shelter them in your resurrection,
sit with families
in intensive care and in funeral homes,
hold the flood of tears,
angry words, angry even at you,
loss it will take years to comfort.

Then teach us how to change
this culture of guns,
not by our despair
but by courage and resistance,
so that we may rise to a new morning,
and walk into a day of hope.
amen.