"Not One More" Pastoral Prayer

The death toll is at 52, Holy One, and it is almost certain to go up. What isn’t certain is how many are still missing, although it includes more than two dozen girls from a riverside camp.

But we believe you are not just a God who is still speaking, but who is still listening.

So we pray for a miracle, while we are searching and sending help.

We pray for those who have already received the worse news, and ask that You comfort them as only Love can.

We pray for the dead, and hold their memory as a blessing.

In this moment of unspeakable loss, we have no one-liners, no quips, or takes on this tragedy. We weep with those whose children are no more.

But we also pray for courage, Holy One, because while it is one thing for children to be taken by natural disasters, it is another thing for them to be taken by unnatural ones. Just last week, Congress made deep and deadly cuts to Medicaid, even though it pays for about 40% of all births and two in five children nationwide rely on it for health care. The Trump Administration is withholding nearly $7 Billion for schools, money that helps pay for after-school programs, lunches, English language learning, and other support services that help children to grow and thrive.

Soften those hearts that are hard and strengthen those spirits that are weak, that we might, as a nation, choose our children’s health and wellbeing over tax breaks and winning. We cannot bear to lose one more little one.

We pray in the name of Jesus, who did not just welcome children, but told the rest of us not to hinder them. Amen.