A Sunday in September

We had a beautiful day on Sunday.  A service of worship with heartfelt music and prayers to the Lord.  We visited together over a delicious meal, and the fellowship hall rang with laughter and the energy of sugar-filled children.  What a gift. I think so just about every day, what a gift we have in each other. It crushed my heart to have come home and seen the news that while we were safely ensconced in our beautiful corner of the world, an LDS church in Michigan was violently ravaged with gunshots and arson.  Innocent people killed and wounded, including children.  It creates a vise around my spirit to imagine such a traumatic scene, and to wonder if the world will ever truly be safe.  If that were to happen to us, well, I just don’t know that I would ever recover.  I simply cannot fathom the heartbreak. On Sunday morning we bared our souls, we filled our bellies, we hugged our church family. We are so, so fortunate.  This is a reminder that we should not take these moments for granted.  I hope you will join me in praying for the broken-hearted, traumatized congregation and community in Michigan.  And I hope you will also join me in prayer for an end to senseless violence, and for better access to mental health care, and stronger systems to protect our citizens from harm. And maybe even find a way to move the needle in that direction for our own community.  As we reflected in worship today, when the voices of the downtrodden cry out, may we be the answers to their prayers.