A Prayer for Boulder

boulder

Holy God,

We are reeling again.
Ten people killed while they were shopping for chips, milk, and maybe some ice cream.
The people on news reports were saying, “That’s my grocery store.  That could have been me.”

Who among us hasn’t run into the store for a few things?
Who among us hasn’t watched the headlines and thought, “That could have been me”?

In a crisis like this, we see people running.
We see them running away, to take shelter, looking for safety.
And we seem them running toward, to get closer, looking for the people they love.
We are connected as a people, and this pain touches us all.

Engage our imaginations and move our hearts toward compassion, Lord.
Let us not merely consider these to be statistics of gun violence,
though it is astoundingly that,
but let us consider their names.

Two middle school girls shopping with their grandfather, getting snacks after school.
A mom with a toddler in her cart, in the produce section.
The people in line for their Covid shots in the pharmacy.
The man at home whose wife left for a few minutes to run a few errands.
The florist. The pharmacist.  The baker.  The stocker.
The clerk.  The manager.  The security guard.

Holy Spirit, be our Great Healer.
Gather what has been scattered.
Be merciful to those who are broken.
Be present to those traumatized.

Be with all who move toward this need.
The helpers, the therapists, the teachers, the moms, the dads.

Give strength to those who are mending broken hearts today,
Who will mend them for years to come.

And even as violence strikes again, let us not lose hope.
We are your hands and your feet.
Give us eyes to see, minds to lead, and hands to hold.

You alone have the strength to carry this people.
Carry us, God.

Tricia Lott Williford

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  1. Thank you, Tricia, for giving us words when we were at a loss for them. My heart is heavy for my Colorado “family”.

  2. I shared your prayer on my Facebook page and listed you as the author. My son-in-law is a police officer. Thank you for your gift of writing and compassion.

  3. O Lord, be with all the families involved—we cannot even imagine! Thank you Tricia, for posting this beautiful prayer.

  4. My eyes welled up as I read this. Thank you friend, for helping us see past the statistics and, most especially, for putting our heart’s cry into words.

  5. Thank you, Tricia. So beautifully stated.

  6. Tricia, we did not see the news last night so this is the first I have heard of the mass casualties in Boulder. Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy. Thank you for putting words to the empathy and compassion we all must have for the victims, who are us.

  7. Thank you, Tricia. I have no words. Again.

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