Father God,

Once again our land has suffered violence. We come to you united in grief and concern for Rep. Scalise and the three others shot this morning. We pray for their quick healing. We pray that you would keep them strong, both in body and in spirit, as they serve our country in their various roles. We pray for their families.

Our freedom has suffered violence. These shots rang out across a place of play. There was a time not long ago most people would have called baseball our national sport. Some still do. The players on that field were preparing for a fund-raising game to benefit Boys and Girls Clubs. Symbolically, then, this is an attack on everyday American living.

But it was no mere symbolic act. It was an attack aimed straight at freely elected American lawmakers, the kind of violence that in other contexts would immediately be treated as an act of war. We have absolutely no reason at this early stage to think it was instigated by leaders or citizens of any foreign country. Instead it seems more likely to represent — on an outrageous, extreme level — an internal war that’s raging within our own country.

We do not know that for sure yet, either. We do know, however, that our country ‘s freedoms stand in a fragile place. Justice stands in a fragile position. Our cities and campuses have been racked by violence, and they are vulnerable to still more. Our leadership has been severely divided, and today was literally under attack, and it, too is vulnerable.

We know that we need you, Father God, in a time like this. We pray for protection from all attack, from within or without. We ask You would stand in the way of all those who would harm us. We pray for strength, wisdom and safety to all those who stand to protect us.

We acknowledge humbly that we depend on You to guide us forward toward true justice, true security and true freedom. 

We believe You have had a design for this nation from its founding onward. We know that despite our failures and imperfections, which have been many, we have been blessed by you, far beyond what we have deserved. We pray that you would restore the blessings of unity built upon virtue, truth, mutual respect and even mutual love.

We pray this in the name of Jesus.

Amen.