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Prayer for Virginia Tech

Multi-Faith Memorial Service

At York University, Toronto  April 26, 2007
By Shiao Chong, Christian Reformed Campus Minister

& Director of Leadership, Culture & Christianity
Serving at York University, Toronto
www.logoscrc.ca | chaplain@logoscrc.ca
 

We are gathered to show support and solidarity to Virginia Tech University. We are here to mourn and remember those who have fallen. We are here to remember and applaud the courageous acts of sacrificial love among the heroes there, acts that inspire us and remind us of the best qualities of being human. In tragedies like this, people of faith offer prayers. We pray because we believe in God who hears us and who answers prayers in God’s own way. We pray as a show of support, as an expression of our love. I am going to offer a prayer, a prayer out of my Christian faith, a prayer partly inspired by my chaplain colleague Brad Close at Dalhousie in Halifax, a prayer for the Virginia Tech community and for all who grieve. I invite you, if you wish, to join me in prayer, or to pray silently in your own words:

God of life, God of comfort,
Out of the depths of our being we cry out,
Out of that fearful place, where we feel helpless, alone, and powerless,
Where we suffer from our inability to stop the rampage of death in our world,
We cry out and say: “Why, O Lord, why?”
Why, Lord, must any child of yours be hurt?
Why, Lord, must any one of us suffer pain and sorrow?

God of mercy, God of grace,
Gather into your presence those who have died at Virginia Tech University,
Console all those who are grieving the loss of loved ones,
Pour out on the injured and the bereaved your abundant mercy,
And sustain the families, the friends, the faculty, the staff, the students and all who are affected.

God of compassion,
Forgive your world for its lust for violence,
Purge all the evil of our hearts and of our world,
Free us from our self-made chains to destructive ways,
Free us in order to live lives of love and service to each other and to our world,
Let us never be blind to the pain and sorrow of those around us, whether near at hand or far away,
Let us never lose our sense of solidarity, of fellowship, of community with our fellow human beings.

God of sorrows,
You are Immanuel – i.e. “God with us” – God with us in our fears, with us in our helplessness, with us in our uncertainties, with us in our shock and sorrows.
God of sorrows,
Be with us and especially be with all at Virginia Tech and the community of Blackburn, Virginia,
Be near to them.
Let them feel your presence in the midst of sorrows.

God of life, God of salvation,
To you we cry out and say: “How long, O Lord, how long?”
How long must we wait for salvation?
How long must we wait for evil to be erased?
To you we cling in hope even as we grasp for hope.
So grasp each one of us, and especially those at Virginia Tech, in your loving embrace.
Let them and us receive hope, hope that only you can give, in the midst of sorrows.
And with that hope, let them and us rise above the sorrows, rise into healing and rise into loving our neighbors,
I pray this through Jesus Christ who suffered and died on a cross in order to bring hope and healing to the world. Amen.

Related Article: Reflections on Virginia Tech


Copyright © Shiao C. Chong 2007
This article can be copied and distributed freely provided its content has not been changed. This resource cannot be sold or distributed for financial gain. It must be free. And it must be unedited. Otherwise, the author reserves all rights to the resource.
 

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