| Thank you to the millions of people who are praying for our community.
Resources:
Prayer for Hope
Almighty and Enduring God,
Let us live this life with compassion and hope.
Let us love, richly and fully, the persons
with whom we share this life.
Let us live a life of confidence and assurance in Your grace.
Let us hope for more beyond the grave.
Receive us into the life to come.
Amen.
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Dr. Kennon Callahan
Twelve Keys for Living
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Prayers for Light in the Darkness [PDF] contains prayers from the Convocation and from the Prayer Service held at St. Michael on April 16.
Pastor John’s sermon from Sunday, April 22: We are Witnesses: Through Our Response
Other sermons, messages, and photos from the vigil, from the Virginia Synod.
Lutheran Campus Pastor Bill King delivered the following message at the Convocation held to remember the victims of the April 16, 2007 shootings on the Virginia Tech campus:
We’re gathered this afternoon for many purposes. To weep for lost friends and families, to mourn our lost innocence, to walk forward in the wake of unspeakable tragedy, to embrace hope in the shadow of despair, to join our voices and our longing for peace, healing and understanding which is much greater than any single faith community, to embrace that which unifies, and to reject the seductive temptation to hate.
We gather together weeping, yes, we weep with an agony too deep for words and sighs that are inexpressible, but also we gather affirming the sovereignty of life over death. At a time such as this the darkness of evil seems powerful indeed. It casts a pall over our simple joys, joys as simple as playing Frisbee on the Drill Field. We struggle to imagine a future beyond this agony. If we ever harbored any illusions that our campus is an idyllic refuge from the violence of the rest the world, they are gone forever. And yet we come to this place to testify that the light of love cannot be defeated. Amid all our pain, we confess that the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.
We cannot undo yesterday’s tragic events, but we can sit in patient silence with those who mourn as they seek for a way forward. As we share light one with another, we reclaim our campus. Let us deny death’s power to rob us of all that we have loved about Virginia Tech, our community. Let us cast our lot with hope in defiance of despair.
The ELCA has posted more information on the Convocation, along with audio of Pastor King’s message. Video of the Convocation, and audio from other speakers, is available from Virginia Tech.
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