Prayer for the Passion of Red Lake on Good Friday

This prayer waswritten following school shootingsat Red Lake MN.Although written and designated for Good Friday, may be used at other times and adapted to other situations where violence has been committed within a community.

By your agony
That we experience as our own.
By your bloody sweat and the fear in the garden
That we experience as our own.
By your cross and passion
That we experience as our own.
By your wounds and injuries
That we experience as our own.
By your thirst and pain
That our loved ones knew in the moment of violence.
By your death upon the cross
That we know painfully in the loss of
our children,
our teachers,
our friends,
and in the death of one who committed this violence,

Heal in us the deep wounds that violence has created in us.
The fabric of our community is torn.

Lord, have mercy.

The sense of school as a safe place has been ripped from us.
Christ, have mercy.

The mental chaos of senselessness, murder, and suicide devastate us.
Lord, have mercy.

We grasp for something to hold on to.
We are beside ourselves with grief and loss.
We cast ourselves upon your mercy, Lord Jesus Christ.
We dare to say, we "lay in dust life's glory dead,"
in the hope that "from the ground there blossoms red
life that shall endless be."*
Be to us, Love that will not let us go,
through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Here the assembly may sing "O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go" (The United Methodist Hymnal, 480) or some other appropriate hymn of faith, trust, and hope.

Elements from the "Messengers of Peace" Worship Service may be used, especially by churches seeking to be in solidarity with the Red Lake community.
See http://wcc-coe.org/wcc/dov/messengers-e.html

You will find several Native American prayers at
http://www.interluderetreat.com/prayers.htm#Native.

"God vs. Gangs: Resurrecting Hope for Our Children"
http://www.calvin.edu/january/2000/river.htm

Dan Benedict is retired from the staff of the Discipleship Ministries.