A Prayer for Victims of Violence, Those Who Mourn, and Those Who Live in Fear
Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy.
O God of mercy and justice,
we lift before you Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim,
whose lives were taken in brutal violence outside the Capital Jewish Museum.
We lift before you their loved ones,
who now sit in shock,
who now carry grief too heavy for words.
Be near to them, Lord.
Draw close.
Hold their sorrow in your hands,
for you know what it is to weep at the tomb of a friend.
We pray, too, for all who live in fear
because of their faith,
because of their ethnicity,
because the world is still marked by hatred and cruelty.
O God, shelter them.
Give them courage.
Give them peace that no act of terror can shatter.
We know, Lord, that the resurrection of Christ
does not erase suffering,
but it declares that suffering and death
do not have the final word.
Raise us up, your people,
to stand against hatred,
to defend the vulnerable,
to proclaim by our words and by our lives
that love is stronger than death.
Christ is risen.
He is risen indeed.
Even here.
Even now.
Amen.