I’m sure you’ve seen the news and have heard of the horrible church shooting in Charleston, SC.  As I and a colleague at work together looked at pictures of the captured suspect, we both sadly commented at the deep vacancy in his eyes.  It was like nothing was there but pure, unbridled hate.  It’s difficult to imagine what drives a person to such a black and twisted place.

Now, more than ever, we cling desperately to the words of Christ in John 16:33:

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Father, we lift up the people of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church who have suffered such a tremendous, unimaginable horror.  We pray for the families of those whose lives were so callously taken and ask that you would surround them with supernatural comfort, compassion and peace.  We ask that you would in time renew their sense of security, and allow this congregation to become not only a place of healing, but a place of forgiveness and revival.  Lord, what the Enemy has intended for absolute evil, would you in your strength and grace transform into something life-giving….only You are capable of such miracles.   Show us how to love and serve our brothers and sisters of Emanuel AME in our prayers, our giving, and our sincerest compassion.  Lord Jesus, be with these precious saints and carry them through the turbulent waters ahead.  We pray also for the troubled young man who committed this act of hate.  If anyone can save and transform such a lost soul, it is You.  Thank you that you have already overcome all this evil, and one day you will completely vanquish the Enemy.  Come Lord Jesus.

In Christ’s mighty name – Amen

The Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge – Charleston, SC. May God turn this evil atrocity into something that can ultimately be a bridge connecting communities of faith, and the lost with Christ.