A Prayer to Mourn Violence

Notes on prayer: This lament can be used as prayers of the people, but can be adapted for other uses as well. It is designed to be responsive, but it would also work if prayed in unison.

Leader: Let us pray for the church, our nation, and the world.

Almighty God, you have made humanity in your image
and have given us the gift of your breath of life.
Yet from Cain unto the present, humanity has dared to murder,
from our own brothers to your own beloved son, Jesus Christ.
We have killed fathers, sons, mothers, daughters,
We have killed at…