My guess is before yesterday you had never heard of it.
Santa Fe, Texas.
Now we have.
On Friday, 8 students and 2 teachers were killed by a 17 year old.
The headline of the yesterday’s New York Daily News read:
With yesterday’s Texas massacre, there have now been more students and teachers killed by guns in US schools than active duty military deaths in 2018.
And, as our ad in the local paper this week reminded us.
912 people were killed or injured by guns in the week ending May 14th.
Which brings the total of those killed or injured to 14,720.
And that was before the shooting at Sante Fe High School.
We will begin our prayer this morning in silence, as a bell rings for each of the victims of Friday’s shooting in Santa Fe, Texas.
Call us out, O God.
Call us out from all those places where we hide
From you and from each other.
Call us out from behind the walls be build.
And, from the stereotypes to which we cling.
And, from the assumptions and easy certainty which avoids the challenging questions which face us.
Call us out, O God.
To life.
To hope.
To justice.
To compassion.
In other words, O God, call us out towards your promised Kingdom meant for us and for all.
As we turn towards You, may we find the courage to pray.
For all those who we remember in this moment.
And, for all those who find themselves in need of health or healing or hope or a reminder of your abiding presence in all the moments of life.
And, added to all those prayers, O God, our prayers of gratitude for the love which surrounds us and for the love which supports us. For the opportunities before us and the responsibilities entrusted to us. Thank you for this community of faith with its reminder of who we are and whose we are and who we are called to be.
And, as always, O God,
May our lives follow where our prayers first lead.
Amen.