Last night, a car drove through a holiday parade in Waukesha. As I write this, five people have died and over 40 are injured. Many are children. Once again, we are called to lament and grieve together. Let us pray.
How long, O Lord, will our hearts be filled with sorrow?
How long until love prevails?
How long will our ability to inflict pain on one another exceed our ability to heal?
How long will we be better at making weapons than making peace?
How long will we turn our plowshares into guns and our cars into missiles?
How long will community celebration become community grief?
How long will our children’s laughter become tears?
How long will death be our companion?
How long, O Lord?
How long?
Lord, we trust in you with unfailing love. We ask that you would pour your love over the victims and their families of Sunday’s tragedy. Console the despairing. Bring healing to broken bodies. Ease the memories of the witnesses. Tend to our fear and grief. Help us release our anger.
We also pray that you would be present with the perpetrator and their family. Such violence is not born from well-being. As we condemn the action, we also know all too well the pandemic of anger, anxiety, loneliness, and fear that pervade our country. As a society, help us to do better for one another. Let us seek hope together.
How long, O Lord, will our hearts be filled with sorrow?
How long until love prevails?
How long, O Lord?
How long?
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Prayers for the People: Scripturally Based Prayers for Worship
Tragedies like this just reminds us of how wicked the world we live in can be. My condolences go out to all of those affected in the Waukesha Christmas parade.
Yes, there is a lot of evil. We see a lot of good as well in those who helped people shelter in place, have given blood, and expressed sympathy. May we work together to bring more peace into the world.
So much that’s impossible to understand. What can be safer than a holiday parade down main street?
Thank you Michelle for being a beacon of light in this crazy world. God bless you and your family.
Peace to you as well.
This morning I would also ask your readers to pray for those that are helping people of all ages with emotional wounds from witnessing this unnecessary tragedy. Our daughters are both impacted by this violence. Erin is the pastor at Presbyterian Home’s Avalon Square retirement community in downtown Waukesha where residents were in windows and balconies watching this event unfold. Lauren is a leader at Children’s Wisconsin where 15 children were sent after the incident. They are only two of the many people who are helping those whose hearts are heavy with grief and disbelief at what they witnessed. Please pray for all those that are busy today in the aftermath of the Christmas parade no one will forget. May their natural empathy not bring intense negative emotions into their own hearts so they may continue to be support for those directly impacted.
Prayers for wisdom, encouragement, hope, and stamina for Erin and Lauren and the many who are standing with and caring for the physically and emotionally injured.