Sundays tragedy was, for me, one of my most persistent nightmares coming true.
Fears that they would return with violence were, thankfully, unfulfilled.
But they were real fears, real possibilities.
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Wedgwood Baptist Church, walking distance from my house, had had a shooting in 1999.
He murdered seven people and wounded seven others in his massacre.
This phrase has been uttered so often that it has become trite.
It caught my attention, for sure.
How much more cliche does the phrase sound when those murdered were literally at prayer while they died?
And yet, as I read these words over and over again, they become meaningless.
Part of the problem is that our definition of prayer has become so limited.
Its not that God doesnt care about our needs, and even our wants.
Petition and intercession are crucial categories of prayer.
But prayer can, andmust, be more than that.
What if we reconnected with the prayer genre of lament, so familiar to the Psalmist?
How long, O Lord?
Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
(Psalm 13:1).
Theres even an entire book of the Bible called Lamentations.
Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow (Lamentations 1:12a).
(Psalm 22:1, Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34).
Who see children practicing active shooter drills as a more practical solution than limiting access to firearms.
My husband is an elementary school teacher.
We dont work in what should be considered inherently dangerous or violent jobs.
But we have had that conversation.
We have made our plans.
But obviously, we who pray do need to clarify that.
Because the world is not seeing that action.
The world is not seeing those changed hearts.Pope Francis has said, You pray for the hungry.
Then you feed them.
That is how prayer works.
In this sense, theNew York Daily Newscover is telling the truth: God isnt fixing this.
If God is going to fix this, it will only be through us.
In my particular branch of Christianity, our prayers often ask for the intercession of the saints.
And so as I pray for those who mourn their deaths.
That we might get organized, passionate, and vocal.
That we might hold ourmembers of Congressaccountable as effectively as the NRA seems to.
That even we who might fear for our lives might respond not by buying yet more instruments of death.
As I entered the worship space, a sign overhead proclaimed, Prayer is Work.
Prayerreal prayeris work, and requires something from us.
Its not a lazy declaration that we really should have a keyboard shortcut for by now.
And if it doesnt, then perhaps we ought to consider that we arent really praying at all.
