Originally shared with the "Evangelicalish" podcast community on May 25, 2022
Holy One –
We have failed.
Your beloved children have suffered. Violence has torn through our world time and again, stealing lives, stealing innocence, stealing dignity, stealing wholeness.
The world is shattered around us as we face the multitude of ways in which young lives are ripped apart by sin and violence.
We repent of the multitude of ways in which we have contributed to this violence, through silence, greed, and our own self-preservation. We repent of the times we have chosen a path of ease over a path of justice. We repent of the pain caused by those bearing your holy name.
We hold now the sacred stories of those abused by the church. We hold now the memories of beloved children and teachers senselessly killed. We bear witness to these pains, these losses.
Be with those whose lives have been utterly torn apart. Surround them with your unceasing love. And surround us, as we each face our own grief, anger, our memories of trauma, and our fear of the future.
Move your spirit in and through us, that we may know now and always the ways in which you draw us together. Strengthen us through our relationships and our common call to peace that we may hold the hope of the world as it can be. In in sacred community, may we find strength and passion to continue to march towards justice.
In the name of the Creator, redeemer, and sustainer. Amen
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