This afternoon, my home church here in Billings, Evangelical United Methodist Church, hosted a candlelit vigil service for the 27 victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
As the days following the “Bad News Day” I felt somewhat alone and “left out”. Friends and families back home were attending vigils and memorial services, and there just weren’t any here in Billings. I found myself living vicariously through my “friends” on facebook, trying to grieve through the posts about memorials that they had the chance to go to.
Tuesday of this week, I asked my Pastor if he was willing/able to do one at our church. He said of course. We quickly came up with some loose ideas, and it seemed that it all just came together.
He asked me to write a prayer, which if you know me, isn’t easy for me to do, but with help from him and a few very good friends I did it. And by the grace of God I was able to get through reading it at the service this after noon, and I wanted to share it with everyone.
This service wasn’t heavily attended, but it was perfect, a little technical difficulties cut a video short, but it was perfect.
The prayer that I read was difficult for me to write and to read, but, as I was reading and the candles were being lit, it was perfect:
Heavenly Creator,
On this day we remember 27 lives that were lost one week ago, lives that were taken from their earthly home too soon.
One week later our hearts are still heavy with sadness as we continue to carry-on through our daily lives as we grieve for those lost:
Charlotte Bacon,
Rachel D’Avino,
Olivia Engel,
Dylan Hockley,
Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung,
Jesse Lewis,
Ana Marquez-Greene,
Grace McDonnell,
Anne Marie Murphy,
Emilie Parker,
Noah Pozner,
Jessica Rekos,
Lauren Rousseau,
Mary Sherlach,
Victoria Soto,
Daniel Barden,
Josephine Gay,
Madeleine Hsu,
Catherine Hubbard,
Chase Kowalski,
James Mattioli,
Jack Pinto,
Caroline Previdi,
Avielle Richman,
Benjamin Wheeler,
Allison Wyatt,
Nancy Lanza
We also light a candle to represent the Town of Newtown, Connecticut and the surrounding communities.
Let these candles symbolize God’s light in our world, in the midst of darkness and our grief. May we remember these precious lives and all the gifts and talents they shared with their families and communities while here on earth. And may we remember that God’s love and light was sent to overcome the darkness that is still present in our world.
As we enter into Christmas, let us remember the many blessings we have in our lives and those that are no longer physically with us.
May your many loving blessings be upon us and our families.
Amen
Wide Open Spaces 