I attended a town-hall meeting recently where members of our community came to share their concerns, following the horrific school shooting in Uvalde. The gathering was at one of our Oak Cliff elementary schools.
It was attended by four of our area state representatives —including Texas state representatives Rafael Anchía and Jessica González — as well as many leaders from DISD security and mental health professionals.
One of the themes that kept recurring is that for young children and their parents, the pandemic, followed by this shooting, has truly traumatized families.
Families are still trying to find an elusive sense of “normal” and stability. Parents are wrestling with how much information to share with their children about these horrific events. Local leaders — many of whom *truly do want to act* to change our laws in ways that will keep children safer — feel stymied by powerful forces that resist change.
I prayed to open the event. But, before I prayed, I spoke about *what* I would pray, and why. I told the crowd that after any number of mass shootings in the United States, leaders often call for “thoughts and prayers.”
But, as these shootings continue to happen with troubling frequency, it can feel frustrating to hear this call to prayer, with little or no action that follows.
Therefore, I reminded the crowd, there are really two ways people can mean the phrase “thoughts and prayers.”
1.“Thoughts and prayers” can be a wall, to defend leaders against acting for change.
2. “Thoughts and prayers” can be a desperate plea for spiritual comfort and help, but also a call to action.
It’s within this second understanding that I prayed. And I thought I’d close this essay by sharing that prayer here:
Holy, Compassionate, and Just God,
Hear the prayers of our broken hearts.
Holy One, we know that you are able to bring new life out of heartbreak. Even when nothing is ever quite the same, when hearts overflow with grief, you are planting seeds of new life.
But God, we know that you need us to act, not just pray.
May our prayers lead us to LISTEN to our mutual and individual concerns for our own children and for their safety.
May our prayers lead us to ACT to stand up to powerful interests who seem to place their wishes ahead of the safety of our children.
May our prayers lead us to WISDOM that we might not overreact in fear, and by doing so cause more anxiety.
Help us to find that challenging middle ground between responding to real threat and living in constant fear.
We pray for all the elected and appointed officials here today. We pray for all the beautiful staff and children of all our schools. We pray for the courage to stand up to the powerful who resist change. We pray for our own children. And we confess the fear we have for them, and our helplessness to sometimes know how to encourage and dispel their fears.
Amid our confusion, help us to listen to each other as neighbors and friends and move beyond words, to action.
For if our prayers are merely words, we know that they are not acceptable to you, O God.
So give us courage to listen, to change, to pray, to act.
In your holy name we pray all these things.
Amen
