To begin Mennonite Church USA’s latest Learn, Pray, Join initiative, End Gun Violence, Jonny Rashid shares this prayer of lament about gun violence.
This blog post is part of Mennonite Church USA’s Learn, Pray, Join: End Gun Violence initiative.
Jonny Rashid is the pastor for West Philadelphia Mennonite Fellowship, a member church of Allegheny Mennonite Conference. He is the author of “Jesus Takes A Side.” Jonny serves on the Anabaptism at 500 advisory committee. He is an abolitionist and a housing activist. He is an avid cook, who blogs at jonnyrashid.com. He studied journalism, education and history at Temple University, in Philadelphia, and completed his Master of Divinity at Palmer Theological Seminary, in St. Davids, Pennsylvania.
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God, our Prince of Peace, we come to seek your everlasting peace in our world of unending violence.
As we witness our families, cities, countries and our world torn apart by gun violence, do not allow us to become numb to its ubiquity; keep us vigilant.
Lord, hear our prayer.
In the face of gridlocked legislatures, may we be bastions of hope and pursuers of justice, who know that another way is possible.
Lord, hear our prayer.
We seek your intervention among those in power, who have the chance and opportunity to make lasting change; convict the hearts of the apathetic, and give boldness to the convicted.
Lord, hear our prayer.
Our world, especially in the United States, is addicted to weapons of death; lead us on a path to recovery.
Lord, hear our prayer.
The gun violence pits us against one another; in a world where we must be united against evil, heal our divisions.
Lord, hear our prayer.
Mass incarceration, the opioid epidemic, systemic racism and punitive laws increase the violence around us; stretch our capacity to address all of what contributes to this epidemic.
Lord, hear our prayer.
Our elected officials, with their support of endless war and police brutality, promote the violence in our society, and they limit our prophetic imagination. Lead us to resist their way of violence, and expand our minds beyond these worldly constraints.
Lord, hear our prayer.
Our police continue to shoot and kill Black and Brown people around us, give us the integrity to name their gun violence, alongside the gun violence that happens in our cities’ streets.
Lord, hear our prayer.
Gun laws make access to guns easy across the country, and gun violence is in every demographic; we repent of when we reduce this issue to urban areas.
Lord, hear our prayer.
Give us compassion, though, as we acknowledge the disproportionate effect gun violence has on minority communities, both by civilians and by police.
Lord, hear our prayer.
For those of us who have lost dear ones to gun violence, give us comfort, be with us in our grief and suffer alongside of us. Make your presence known.
Lord, hear our prayer.
The plague that surrounds us can lead us to despair and cynicism. Give us the Holy Spirit, so that we can be comforted. Give us Jesus, so that we can have courage. Give us our Heavenly Parent, so that we may have hope.
Lord, hear our prayer.
Show us a new way, a path to a new world. We pray that your will is done on earth as it is in heaven.
Amen.
As followers of Jesus in the Anabaptist faith tradition, we are called to seek peace and witness against all forms of violence.
Approximately 118 people per day die by gun violence in the U.S. Gun violence is a complex issue that intersects with poverty, racism, discrimination, criminal justice, education and the environment.
This “Learn, Pray, Join: End Gun Violence” initiative calls us to understand this crisis through the lens of our faith and seek ways to bring God’s hope and healing to our hurting communities, through education, disarming practices, advocacy and standing as a visible witness for peace.
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