09/06/2026
Our communities are carrying an incredible amount of grief right now. We have lost young people we love, others have been injured, and that pain has been made even heavier as others have felt they could no longer carry their grief. If you are hurting so deeply that you are thinking about hurting yourself, please hear this: you do not have to carry this alone. Tell someone. Tell a friend, a parent, a teacher, a pastor—keep telling someone until someone listens. There is no shame in needing help.
And to all of us: let's pay attention to one another. Check on the person who has gotten quiet. Sit beside the person who is hurting. Ask the difficult question. Stay with them. We honor those we have lost not by following them into death, but by carrying their memory with us as we choose life together.
A prayer for all of us: God, we come to you with broken hearts. There really aren't words for what has happened. Young lives have been lost. Others have been hurt. Families and friends are grieving. And just when we think our hearts cannot take any more, we hear that someone else is hurting so badly that they don't know if they can keep going. God, we need you. We pray for the families whose lives have changed forever. For parents who would give anything to hold their child again. For brothers and sisters, grandparents, friends and classmates trying to make sense of something that doesn't make sense. Be with our teachers, counselors, first responders and everyone trying to help our community through these days. And Lord, please be especially close to those who are struggling right now. Some are hurting and nobody knows it. Some are trying to be strong for everyone else. Some are carrying guilt. Some are angry. Some are afraid. And some may be wondering whether they even want to be here anymore. Please reach them, Lord. Put someone beside them who will notice. Someone who will listen. Someone who won't try to fix everything or explain everything, but who will simply stay. And help us be those people for one another. Give us the courage to ask, “Are you really okay?” And when someone says they aren't, help us not to look away. Remind every young person in our community that they matter. Their life matters. Their story is not finished. And however unbearable tonight may feel, they do not have to face it alone. Jesus, when your friend Lazarus died, you stood outside his grave and wept. You didn't pretend death didn't hurt. You didn't tell everyone to simply get over it. You cried with the people you loved. So cry with us now. Sit with the families who are grieving. Sit with the friends who miss someone terribly. Sit with the young person awake tonight who doesn't know how to make it through tomorrow. And somehow, Lord, in the middle of all of this pain, help us hold onto each other. Help us remember that asking for help is okay. That saying “I can't do this alone” is okay. That we can carry one another when someone doesn't have the strength to carry themselves. We don't have all the answers tonight, God. We just ask you to stay close. Hold those we have lost in your everlasting love. Hold those who are hurting in your arms. And help the rest of us hold onto one another. Give us enough strength for today, enough hope for tomorrow, and enough love to keep choosing life together. We ask it in the name of Jesus, who wept with us, who walks with us, and who promises that even death will not have the last word. Amen.
