A Prayer for the Danforth

Response to the shootings in Toronto on July 22, 2018, that killed two and injured 13

July 30, 2018 | Web First
Tim Reimer | Pastor of Danforth Mennonite Church
Toronto, Ont.
A memorial to the victims of the July 22, 2018, shooting that killed two and injured 13 on Danforth Ave. in Toronto, Ont. (Photo by Lauren Kong)

Oh God of Love,
Maker of human neighbours and neighbourhoods,
Hear our prayer
from the Danforth, for the Danforth.

Hear our cry of anguish and disorientation;
Our sidewalk cafes are shattered and scattered;
we are suddenly lost in our own home town.
    Calm us!
Hear our cry of fear,
we run, we hide, from guns
    Protect us!
sometimes—we confess—
we call for even bigger triggers.
    Forgive us!
Hear our cry of grief,
We want to walk with the bereaved,
even just one lonely neighbourly step.
    Comfort them! and us.
Hear our cry of confusion,
Why does one man’s loss of head and heart
spray deathly lead through house and home?
    Heal him!
    Answer us! 
    Call us!
Call us to courage, to imagine peace.

We hear your impossible call to respond in love,
We hear it within ourselves,
We hear it beyond the darkness, blood, and rage.
    Rebuild! Be remade!

Oh God of Love,
    Remake us on the Danforth
    into a new neighbourhood of Peace. Amen.

 

A memorial to the victims of the July 22, 2018, shooting that killed two and injured 13 on Danforth Ave. in Toronto, Ont. (Photo by Lauren Kong)

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