Prophetic Witness at the office of Senator John Cornyn

 My written prayer offered yesterday before Sen. Cornyn’s office in Dallas:

Prayer for Demonstration to end gun violence at the Office of Sen John Cornyn, June 1, 2022

Gracious God, Father and Mother of all children everywhere,

We come to you today in an hour of crisis, and grief, sorrow, and holy rage. Three hundred miles south of here, yet more parents are saying their final goodbyes to the bodies of their little ones who died by the bullets of a gun legally purchased in the United States of America.

God, have mercy on us.

We are enraged. And we are also frustrated. And we are tempted towards despair.

Yet we are here; present and determined, defiantly hopeful, concerned, committed, responsible, and demanding change.

We do demand change.

Too long have we kept silent. Too long have we sat passive. Too long have we accepted the status quo — and the lie that there is no will to turn the tide.

There is your will, dear God; and we believe in it. We believe that it is your will that not one more of these your children should die or be harmed under all the heavens; and in this we join our will to yours that salvation might come, at last, to this nation.

No more will our mouth be shut. No more will we sit passive. No more will we accept the inevitability of children’s coffins being built and buried in this hallowed earth. Life and death have been put before us; and today we choose life.

So we join together now with you, God, as brothers and sisters and beloved kindred in the holy family of humanity. And we pray together in one faith and of one accord, trusting and believing that the angels and archangels, and all the saints, and prophets, and prophetesses, and mothers, and grandmas, and abuellos, and abuellas, and ancestors of all tongues, and tribes, and colors and kinds pray with us. The shedding of innocent blood must end. The gun violence must be stopped. And the weapons of assault must be banned.

We do pray this of one accord. Together as your children, we pray it with one another. Together, as your children we pray that Senator John Cornyn would come and pray it with us.

Open our leaders’ eyes, dear Lord. Soften their hearts. Lay a mighty burden upon their conscience. It is time for change. It is time for laws. And it is time to act.

We need you, Lord. We ask for your help. We plea for the sake of children, and our children’s children. In the words of the old hymn:

“Save us from weak resignation

To the evils we deplore

And may the gift of Thy salvation

Be our [children’s] evermore”

We pray all these things together, in the name of the one who is life and wills life, now, and always, and everywhere — including America. Amen.