The Rev. Dr. W. David O. Taylor, C4SO’s Scholar in Residence: Arts, Media, Culture, has written a set of “Prayers for a Violent World” that feel ever-more relevant in the wake of our country’s tragic shootings. David hopes these prayers might prove useful to people everywhere, particularly those who regularly face the terrors and traumas of our often-violent world.
We invite you to pray these prayers with C4SO in your church or at home.
A Prayer Against Bloodthirstiness:
O Lord, you who abhor the bloodthirsty, rebuke the murderous, we pray, and break the sword of the violent, so that we might witness you as the God of Justice and the Lord of Righteousness under the light of the noonday sun. We pray this in the name of Christ our King. Amen.
A Prayer of Anger:
To the God whose holy anger heals;
To the Messiah whose righteous anger overcomes evil;
To the Spirit who keeps our angers from turning destructive:
Receive our wounded hearts;
Take our burning words;
Protect us from the desire for revenge.
May our righteous angers become fuel for justice in our fractured world
and for the mending of broken relations in our neighborhoods and homes.
For God’s sake—and ours—we pray.
Amen.
A Prayer After a Mass Shooting:
O Lord, you who abhor those who murder the innocent, be not deaf to our bitter cries, we pray, and do not abandon us to our pain this day. Hear our raging words of protest, O God of Jacob, heed our groans for justice, and meet us in this lowly and desperate place. Awake, Lord! Rouse yourself! Deliver us from evil, for your name’s sake, so that we might witness your might to save and your power to heal. We pray this in the name of our Fortress and Refuge. Amen.
A Prayer for Enemies:
O Lord, you who ask us to do the impossible—to bless our enemies, to pray for those who persecute us, and to love those who seek us harm—we pray that you would do the impossible in us: Help us to love our enemies as you love them and to remember who our true enemy is: Satan, death, and the spiritual forces of evil. Perform also a miracle in our enemies by your Spirit, and in your sovereign might, restrain the power of evil in this world. We pray this in the name of the One who does impossible things. Amen.
A Prayer for Death:
O Wounded Christ, you who have gone to the monstrous depths and swallowed death whole, tasting its bitter finality and conquering it once for all, we pray that you would free us from the fear of death and comfort us in the losses that we experience on account of death, so that our hearts might be infused this day with your resurrection life. We pray this in the name of the One who is the Resurrection and the Life. Amen.
A Prayer of Bitter Lament:
Merciful God, you who weep with those who weep, who rescue the oppressed, who incline your ear to the needy, and who bind up the brokenhearted: hear our prayer. Bring an end to our distress. Preserve our lives. Rescue us. Heal us. Be near to us this day. We pray this in Jesus’ name, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, on whom we cast all our cares. Amen.
A Prayer Against Neighbor Hate:
O Lord, you who command us to bless our enemies, protect us, we pray, from turning our neighbors into enemies, worthy only of hatred and deserving of nothing but insults and curses, and grant us instead the heart of Jesus, so that we might love our neighbor as you love them. We pray this in the name of the One who causes the sun to rise both on the evil and on the good. Amen.
A Prayer for Loving a Hurting Neighbor:
O Lord, you who do not look away from the pain of this world, open our eyes, we pray, to see the pain of our neighbor and, by grace, to become the healing presence and power of Jesus to them, so that our hearts might be kindled with your neighbor love this day. We pray this in the name of the Merciful One. Amen.
A Prayer to Become a Justice-Loving People:
O Lord, you who hate those who record unjust decisions, may we be a people who stand against injustice that occurs anywhere as a threat to justice everywhere, so that we might become worthy representatives of your righteous kingdom and extremists for Christ’s love. We pray this in the name of the One who sets the oppressed free. Amen.
A Prayer for Peace in a Time of War:
O Lord, you who are the True King, have mercy, we pray, on the people of the Ukraine this day. Silence the warmongers, scatter the bloodthirsty, shatter the weapons of war and take pity on the vulnerable, so that true peace and justice might be restored to this land. We pray this in the name of the Prince of Peace. Amen.
A Prayer For Those Who Weary of Doing Justice:
O God, you who see the hearts of all with perfect clarity, I confess my irritation with those who bully their way with words, who think no one sees what they do in the shadows, and who live in a world of denial. I’m angry and scared and tired of doing the right thing. Strengthen my heart, I pray, so that I might not lose hope. I pray this in the name of the Good Shepherd and Just Judge. Amen.
A Prayer to Guard Against Self-Deception:
O Lord, you who lift my head up high, I lift my soul to you this day: guard my heart, I pray, from self-deception, my thoughts from vain imaginations, my lips from falsehood, my hands from violence and my soul from evil, so that I might walk in the way of integrity all the days of my life. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
A Prayer for the Peaceable Kingdom of God:
O Lord, you who were manifested to the world at the visit of the Magi, manifest yourself to the world today as the king who refuses to use the violence of the world to the achieve peace that we so eagerly desire, so that we might be strengthened to do the work of your peaceable kingdom in our own time and place. We pray this in the name of our Redeemer and King. Amen.
A Prayer of Allegiance to the Prince of Peace:
O Lord, you who deserve all our loyalties, we pledge allegiance this day to the Lamb of God and to the upside-down Kingdom for which he stands, one holy nation under God, the Servant King and the Prince of Peace, with liberty and justice for all without remainder. We pray this in the name of the Holy Trinity. Amen.
Which one of these prayers best expresses your heart right now? Let us know.
David Taylor is a theologian, author, speaker, priest, and director of initiatives in art and faith. A professor at Fuller Theological Seminary, he has lectured widely on the arts, from Thailand to South Africa. He has written for The Washington Post, Image Journal, Theology Today, Worship, Religion News Service, Christianity Today, and Books & Culture, among others. He lives in Austin with his wife Phaedra, a visual artist and gardener, and his daughter Blythe and son Sebastian.