To a Place of Celebration

To a place of ce­le­bra­tion

Filled with laugh­ter

danc­ing

joy

Came such vio­lent de­vas­ta­tion—

One man’s ef­forts to de­stroy.

God

we grieve for loved ones tak­en;

We la­ment

What can we do?

Now

we’re feel­ing lost and shak­en;

Heal our na­tion! Make us new!

Weapons kill—and so does si­lence;

Hear our pray­er as we con­fess:

We have giv­en in to vio­lence

We have bowed to hope­less­ness.

God

we’ve lost our sense of vi­sion

Of a world where there will be

Plowshares made from vio­lent wea­pons

Justice in so­ci­ety.

Give our lead­ers strength for act­ion

Give them minds to mend our flaws

Give them cour­age and com­pass­ion

And the will to change our laws.

May we work for le­gis­la­tion

That will curb guns’ aw­ful toll.

God

re­new our de­di­ca­tion

To a world that’s just and whole.

Give us love to change our vi­sion;

Give us love to cast out fear.

Give us love to speak with wis­dom—

Love to work for jus­tice here.

Give us love to wel­come dif­fer­ence—

Love no hat­red can de­stroy.

Only love can stop the vio­lence;

Only love will bring back joy.