Dear Friends,

 

The devastating war in Ukraine, a shooting in a grocery store in an African-American neighborhood in Buffalo, an attack on a Taiwanese church in California, and now the horrific slaughter in an elementary school in Texas. We are numb, heartbroken, frightened, angry. We cry out to the Lord.

Today is Ascension Day, when we celebrate the return of Jesus to the right hand of his Father in heaven. He rules and reigns over the universe, “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named” (Ephesians 1:21).

The world doesn’t yet look like it’s under the rule and authority of Jesus. But as Hebrews 2:8-9 says, though we do not yet see everything in subjection to him, we do see Jesus.

Our clergy have been responding to these events with words from Scripture and exhortations to prayer to help us respond as believers who trust in our Risen and Ascended Lord in the midst of confusion and pain.

The Rev. David Glade, Rector of Christ the King, Alexandria, VA, wrote to his congregation last week, before the Uvalde, Texas shooting. His article appears later in this newsletter.

Below are excerpts from four other church newsletters to help us as we face these grievous events.

 

 Faithfully yours in Christ,

The Rt. Rev. John A. M. Guernsey

From the Rev. Drew Thomas, Vicar of Incarnation Church, Williamsburg, VA:

As we prepare to celebrate Ascension Day, I want to suggest that it is quite appropriate also for us to grieve today for the many evils facing our nation and world—and especially the shooting yesterday at the elementary school in Texas. I am devastated by the news, as I imagine many of you are. We should never become numb to it, but should allow ourselves to feel the sadness of others and to pray for God’s justice and healing.

I encourage each of you to take 15–20 extra minutes this evening to pray The Great Litany, a prayer service from our own Anglican tradition that solemnly asks for God’s mercy and intervention in times of trouble.

As you pray, remember that the ascended Jesus is standing right now before the Father as a Lamb who was slain, representing all of the pain and suffering of our world. By his wounds—and by his wounds only—can our world be healed. That day is coming. But today, we grieve the evil that has taken something so extraordinarily precious from those parents and students and teachers in Texas.

Come, Lord Jesus. Hear the cries of your people, and have mercy on us all.

From the Rev. Morgan Reed, Vicar of Corpus Christi Anglican Church, Springfield, VA:

It is so difficult to believe that less than two weeks ago there was a mass shooting in Buffalo (which I made mention of in my sermon last Sunday) and again just yesterday another mass shooting in Texas that has taken the lives of over 21 people. I spent more time than usual this morning hugging and holding my son before sending him off to daycare and I’m sure for those with school-ages children it was a similar reality this morning.

In the wake of multiple mass shootings I find myself asking God, along with the prophet Habakkuk, “How long, O Lord, will I cry for help and you do not listen? Or cry to you ‘Violence!’ and you will not save?” God does eventually answer Habakkuk and it is worth re-reading this short book this week. It is important to take time to grieve and lament as we hear the stories of the lives of those lost, as we hear about the families who grieve those they’ve lost, as we consider how broken people are to commit these kinds of acts of violence, and how broken our society is that those who struggle so deeply with mental health are given access to such deadly weapons.

Another helpful resource for prayer this week is a section in your Book of Common Prayer called “The Supplication” which follows The Great Litany.

From the Rev. David Hanke, Rector of Restoration Anglican Church, Arlington, VA:

On Sunday, as I listed out the ways our world is being shaken, the ways the tremors can sometimes be felt more distinctly, I wasn’t anticipating that 2 days later, an 18 year old young man would take a gun to an elementary school and kill 19 children and 2 teachers in a small town between San Antonio and the border of Mexico. I wasn’t ready for that shaking. I wasn’t expecting a “notification” on my phone of this evil as I finished lunch and walked into a meeting. I wasn’t anticipating how my heart would wrench and my stomach would lurch as the world was shaken, yet again. Evil. Grief.

May the Lord give you grace to pray honestly and specifically as we condemn this evil and the means by which it happened. This is not the way it’s supposed to be.

Psalm 13

How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day?

How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.

A Prayer

O Lord, you who abhor those who murder the innocent, be not deaf to our bitter cries, we pray, and do not abandon us to our pain this day. Hear our raging words of protest, O God of Jacob, heed our groans for justice, and meet us in this lowly and desperate place.

Awake, Lord! Rouse yourself!

Deliver us from evil, for your Name’s sake, so that we might witness your might to save and your power to heal. We pray this in the Name of our [only] Fortress and Refuge. Amen.

(written by the Rev. Dr. W. David O. Taylor)

How long O Lord will tragedy happen in our midst? May we not grow numb and indifferent.

May our prayers be regular and insistent. Bring your justice, Lord, and change the direction of murder and evil for which we have settled.

From the Rev. Jamie Brown, Associate Rector of Truro Anglican Church, Fairfax, VA:

Sometimes all we can do is weep.

That’s certainly the case this week, as we grieve and lament the utter evil on display in Uvalde, Texas—in yet another mass shooting—this time at Robb Elementary School. We mourn the senseless murder of 19 children and 2 teachers, and we pray that “the Father of mercies and God of all comfort” (2 Cor. 1:3) will minister deeply to all those affected.

Our hearts are broken for the families who have lost their loved ones. For the community that has been forever marked by this tragedy. For the darkness that can overcome a human soul and drive someone to such madness.

And so we weep. Yet as we do, we weep with faith.

That even though we’re halfway across the country from our brothers and sisters in Texas, “the Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in Spirit.” (Ps. 34:18)

That even when we don’t know how to pray, “the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” (Rom. 8:26)

That even though we see darkness all around us, “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:5)

And that even though we can’t make sense of the evil on display in our world, a day is coming soon when God “will wipe away every tear from [our] eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore…” (Rev. 21:4)

But until then…

And for now, we weep.

“Yet saints their watch are keeping; their cry goes up, ‘How long?’ And soon the night of weeping shall be the morn of song.”

Come quickly, Lord Jesus.