Litany after the Orlando Massacre

A Litany after the Orlando Massacre
June 12, 2016

O God, in whose image all people are made,

Have mercy on us.

O Jesus, healer and lover of all souls,

Have mercy on us.

O Holy Spirit, source of courage and hope,

Have mercy on us.

Holy Trinity, divine community, gather us as one,

Have mercy on us.

We weep as Rachel for her children,

Hear our prayer.

We weep for the innocent victims of Orlando and everywhere,

Hear our prayer.

We weep for the perpetrators of violence and hate,

Hear our prayer.

We weep over our country and our world as Jesus wept over Jerusalem,

Hear our prayer.

We pray healing for those wounded in body or spirit,

Hear our prayer.

We long for mercy and truth to make a home with each other where righteousness and peace embrace,

Hear our prayer.

Help us to end a culture of violence and the fetish of guns,

We fervently pray, O God.

Inspire our earthly rulers to break open old arguments and act for the common good,

We fervently pray, O God.

Lead us in examining our own consciences for the remnants of prejudice and hate within us,

We fervently pray, O God.

Give your LGBT… children the courage to be and the equal dignity of every human being,

We fervently pray, O God.

Keep us from acting out of our fear to brand others as enemies,

We fervently pray, O God.

Protect our brothers and sisters of Islam, that they may live in the peace which is their true proclamation,

We fervently pray, O God

Surround us with your loving arms, draw us together across lines of religion, sexual orientation, and all those many ways we separate ourselves from one another,

We fervently pray, O God.

Inspire us to act in ways that bring all people closer to your promised reign of peace,

We fervently pray, O God.

For the dead we pray,

Lord have mercy.

For the wounded we pray,

Christ have mercy.

For a transformed world we pray,

Lord have mercy.

Let us pray.

O God of deep compassion and abounding mercy, in whose trust is our perfect peace: Draw near to us in this time of anguish, anxiety and anger, receive the dead into your eternal care, comfort those who mourn, strengthen those who are wounded or in despair, turn our anger into the conviction to act, channel our passion to end our dependence on violence for our sense of security, and lead us all to greater trust in you and in your image found in the entire human family; through Jesus the Christ, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns among us and eternally.  Amen.

The Rev. Michael W. Hopkins, copyright © 2016, Epiphany Esources, 67 E. Main St., Hornell, NY 14843. www.EpiphanyEsources.com Permission is given to adapt, so long as the copyright is reserved, with the word “adapted” included.