Sisters and Brothers,
Our hearts are broken… our tears flowing…. our own vulnerable places exposed…. our consciences confounded… our hands reaching out… our ribbons tied…. our candles lit…. and our voices raised in prayer, in confusion, in anger, in compassion to our loving God.
In shaping your prayers for Sunday, a collection of resources worth reviewing comes from Textweek.com. They assembled a series of worship and preaching resources following the violence in Norway. They are updating these resources and adding new ones related to the shootings in Connecticut. Here's the link: http://www.textweek.com/response/vt.htm
Newtown CT is not far. Many in my former congregation (Newton Highlands Congregational Church) join me as this tragedy is one step closer: our UCC pastor in Newtown, CT is Matt Crebbin. While Matt and his family are safe, as pastor of Newtown Congregational Church he and his congregation will be affected in countless ways for the rest of their lives by this tragedy.

Author

Jim Antal
Jim Antal is a denominational leader, activist and public theologian. He led the 360 churches of the Massachusetts Conference United Church of Christ from 2006 to his retirement in 2018. An environmental activist from the first Earth Day in 1970, ...