I have composed and sent this prayerful letter to the Senators of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania – Sen Pat Toomey and Sen. Bob Casey.
Dear Senator,
I pray today that dozens of people will not die or be wounded today because of someone who converted his or her legal semiautomatic weapon or abused his 2nd Amendment rights to own a gun.
I intercede, as a priest of The Church and as a citizen, to you and our nations’ senators to prevent an angry person who is perhaps living with a mental illness or unresolved despair to inflict mortal carnage upon people living in Pennsylvania or elsewhere across our nation.
I ask you in the name of Jesus Christ, for repentance (a change of heart and direction) to manifest wisdom in making it more difficult for someone living in the Commonwealth to convert the weapons they own into battlefield weapons.
I yearn for God to mercifully receive the souls of those people who will die and be wounded today. I pray that God’s angels will indeed be close to people who will lie perilously close to death on our nation’s streets and in countless hospital beds because someone else shot them. I will ask God and you why there are so many guns in our nation when our bodies are so fragile when rapidly fired bullets impact us.
I pray that God will abide with doctors, nurses, counselors, pastors, and first responders who will provide aid to victims and will need pastoral, spiritual, physical, and mental support themselves.
May God grant you the wisdom, courage, and grace as my Senator to do something to make the lives of your constituents safer and more joyous today. May God’s Holy Spirit guide and direct you to act and legislate so that our shared thoughts and prayers for victims and their families will become more than words and manifest the truest and most compassionate love of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
The Rev. Jim Strader-Sasser – Christ Memorial Episcopal Church – Danville.
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As God’s Spirit Leads you – please visit – The Episcopal Bishops United Against Gun Violence’s webpage. They have compiled a useful list of liturgical resources and objective facts.
I encourage you, on behalf of the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania’s bishop, The. Rt. Rev. Audrey Scanlan, to visit and resourcefully use the Smart Gun Laws website.
May our words and become more than words and may we have the courage, patience, and compassion of Jesus the Christ.
Amen
Musings from the Corner of Market and Pine 