Dear Friends,
As we enter this season of Lent, a time of deep reflection, of letting go of all that hinders us from wholeness, and of embracing ourselves for all that we are: skin & bone, and ash upon ash, we are yet again halted by hatred and frozen with fear.
Violence is not the opposite of love, it is her archenemy.
We cannot afford to give-in to the dominant narrative of our time which yields violence with the upper hand, but instead we must become its enemy. There is no time to consider what is at stake; we already know: remember that we are dust, and to dust we shall return. We are not our own, however, the dust from which we have come was breathed in the secret place, by the God of Love. The God who has no enemies; the God who alone can bring the same bodies who perpetuate violence among us to their knees. Now is the time to act. As enemies of violence,
“[Let us] put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes,
you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist,
with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with
the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.” ~ Ephesians 6:13-15
As we mourn for those affected by these tragedies, we invite you to join us in praying these words adapted from the Christian Reformed Church’s Office of Social Justice:
Lord, in our shock and confusion, we come before you.
In our grief and despair in the midst of hate,
in our sense of helplessness in the face of violence,
we lean on you.
For the families of those who have been killed we pray.
For the shooter(s)—help us to pray, Lord.
For the communities that have lost members—their anger, grief, fear—we pray.
For the churches striving to be your light in darkness beyond our comprehension, we pray.
In the face of hatred, may we claim love, Lord.
May we love those far off and those near.
May we love those who are strangers and those who are friends.
May we love those who we agree with and understand,
and even more so, Lord, those who we consider to be our enemies.
Kyrie Eleison. Lord, have mercy.
Heal our sin-sick souls.
Make these wounds whole, Lord.
Pastor Jenny Shultz-Thomas