I woke up in shock with the rest of the country, reading and watching news reports on the horrific attack in Las Vegas. 50 people lost their lives, hundreds were injured, and millions are left feeling hopeless. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families who lost loved ones. Violence, of any kind, is not acceptable human behavior. There is no excuse or reason a human being can justify their actions to cause harm in any way, physical, verbal, mental, and spiritual to another human being. When is enough just that, enough?
As a Pastor I am left broken this morning, trying to find the right words to say. Finding hope in the midst of a broken world is difficult, to say the least. But I do believe that there is in fact hope today. That hope starts with you and me. Rather than responding with more hate, respond in love. I know this is easier said than done. To bring peace to this world we have to love so deeply that there is no longer room for hate. That is all that we can do.
My prayer for each of us today is a familiar one for many of us, the prayer of St Francis. It's our call to bring hope to the world this morning and love so deeply there is no longer room for hate. May you be an instrument of peace today.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
Love, Pray, Give, & Rejoice!
Pastor Zach