A Prayer for the Chardon Community

Holy God, our world uses violence as a method of problem solving,
our politicians bully the other in order to secure votes,
and your beloved but troubled child from a violent home
picks up a gun and kills 3 other of your beloved children
and wounds another.

You understand the pain all five of these families are feeling,
and you walk with the entire Chardon community.
May we show our children the accepting love of Jesus
who teaches us to turn the other cheek
as a witness,
not of passivity,
but of radical disengagement with the forces of evil.
Love us, guide us, forgive us all.
Amen.

Copyright (c) 2012, The Rev. Nancy Nichols. Used with permission. The Rev. Nancy Nichols is an elder in the Indiana Conference and pastor of Broadway Christian Parish, South Bend, Indiana. For further permissions, contact her at [email protected].

See other Discipleship Ministries resources for coping with school violence.