Prayer for Provincetown

The Rev. Canon Gregory Howe

Custodian of the Book of Common Prayer

Holy God

Holy & Mighty

Holy Immortal One

Have mercy upon us

Please join me in silent prayer

_________

Merciful God, who holds all souls in life, we come before you this day in shock, pain and anger. We ask you to help us in the midst of horror so grotesque that it defies understanding.

Receive into the arms of your mercy the many innocent people who were murdered suddenly and unprepared in New York and Northern Virginia; comfort spouses, lovers, parents and children who mourn their tragic loss, and help them to find your peace.

Accept our humble gratitude for the courage and dedication of the public safety officers: Fire, EMT and Police, who lost their lives struggling to save others, and be mindful of those who work to find their remains, and those of the other victims.

We ask you to take under your special protection the thousands of patriotic arab-americans who came here to seek the peace and safety denied them in their homelands and now find themselves at risk to a particularly chilling form of racial profiling. As Christians and orthodox Moslems they recoil from brutal terror just as we do. Deliver them from misplaced retribution.

Finally, be with us as we struggle with the mysteries of life and death; in our pain and fear, bring your comfort, in our sorrow and our anger, bring your hope, and your promise of new life, which has been from of old for all your faithful people of every race and nation. Amen.