A Prayer of Sorrow and Hope

On this day,
on every day,
let us mourn with those who mourn.

For our hearts are broken,
and all the sorrow and pain and suffering of the world
has fallen in the shattered shells of ourselves.
Let us take us these fragile broken pieces
and lay them on Thine altar.
Let us make our broken hearts an offering unto Thee.

O, God, we hurt.

O God, let us find some comfort,
some peace,
in doing Thy work,
in mourning with those who mourn,
and comforting those who stand in need of comfort.

Lord, forgive us our sins,
on this day,
on every day.

7 comments for “A Prayer of Sorrow and Hope

  1. Very beautiful. Thank You.

    Regarding the shootings in CT: The news showed the first parent of a child lost in this tragedy to speak to the media- Robbie Parker – he is LDS. He showed class and grace and an example for all of us to follow, but more importantly he paid a beautiful tribute to his daughter Emilie Parker. (The words he used made me wonder if the family was LDS and sure enough they are) He exhibited the true love of Christ in the face of tragedy.

  2. Thank you, Rachel. The whole world has deeply been affected by the tragedy at the Sandy Hook Elementary School. At such moments there are no country borders anymore.

  3. It’s not safe to go to the mall, it’s not safe to go to the movies, it’s not safe to go to work, it’s not safe to send our children to school. We’re turning into a third-world banana republic.

  4. Don, I think we are safe for the most part, safer from violence than many places in the world and safer than mankind has been for most of human history. It’s still more dangerous to be in a car than just about anything else we do in the US. We tend to feel that we have control when we are driving a car, an illusion when we consider how many variables are outside of our control, including road conditions and other drivers. But events like this, that remove that happy self-deception, shake us to the core, whether there is no one to blame as in the cataclysms of nature (called acts of God) or whether they are the incomprehensibly horrible acts of man.

  5. As a father and grandfather, who has lost two children and a grandchild, I agree that sad events like these are reminders of the vulnerability of our most intimate relationships. My paternal grandmother was adopted because an earlier child had died in a gun accident. Contemplating the suffering of those children, and the terror and loss felt by their classmates, is painful.

    At the same time, we should not unduly fear for our own children. The risk is still much higher that our little ones will be harmed by accidents or disease.

    Similarly, more soldiers have died in stateside traffic accidents than in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.

    Let us mourn with those who mourn. But next week, as we ponder and debate ways to prevent such tragedies, let us do so soberly and rationally. The depth of our feeling does not verify the accuracy of our perceptions.

Comments are closed.