An American Prayer | On the Third Sunday Following a Killing Spree

III. 

Almighty and everliving God,

If it be Thy will that we 

ought in all good conscience to change anything

in thought, word, or deed

to prevent the evil or the mad from

misusing these Thy gifts of semi-automatic 

sports rifles bearing

frangible ammunition in

high capacity magazines to

snuff the wick of life from

children and other noncombatants, 

grant us a sign--

clear and convincing--

that we may with one mind and heart agree

to forego a portion of our marginal profits and

endure some diminution at the margins

of our precious personal freedom.

So we do now wait on Thee,

pledging that should some sign issue 

unmistakably from Thy hand,

we will lay this matter to rest

even as we have so recently

laid to rest the bodies of 

those we grieve this day.

An American Prayer | On the Second Sunday Following a Killing Spree

II.

Understanding and wise God,
Grant that we may, without 
doing anything different, 
be protected from further 
atrocities of the sort we 
now so earnestly grieve.

fasten your seatbelt | Bloomberg News projects guns will soon kill more in US than auto accidents

Here's the Bloomberg chart, showing gun deaths (homicide, suicide, accidents) rising as death by automobile declines, the curves projected to cross in 2015.

click to enlarge

According to the report, 2011 saw the smallest number of traffic fatalities since 1949. About 85 Americans are shot dead every day and more than 200 require emergency care for gunshot wounds. Gun owning households declined since 2004 to about one third in 2010.

From the report:

The fall in traffic deaths resulted from safer vehicles, restricted privileges for young drivers and seat-belt and other laws, he said. By contrast, “we’ve made policy decisions that have had the impact of making the widest array of firearms available to the widest array of people under the widest array of conditions.” While fewer households have guns, people who own guns are buying more of them, he [Garen Wintermute at University of California Davis] said.

Aftermath | Five Questions About a Particular Class of Weapon

If I could go back in time to stop a mass killer, would I?

If I could go back and wrench the assault weapon from the grasp of a would-be killer, would I?

If I could go back and stop someone from getting his hands on an assault weapon before he could use it to slaughter children, would I?

If I could go back and prevent the purchase of an assault weapon and high capacity magazines before they were used to murder children, would I?

If, going forward, I believe I can protect the lives of children by enacting sensible controls on assault weapons and high capacity magazines, will I?

Yes, yes, yes, yes, and -- sigh -- yes, of course.

You?

An American Prayer | On the First Sunday Following a Killing Spree

I.

Oh holy and
loving God,
please don't
let this have
happened.

the silence of the lambs | what do we tell our children about gun violence in the sanctuary of learning?

It's not supposed to be like this. Just so we're crystal clear about that.

No one is supposed to walk into a grade school and slaughter children. No one has that right.

Someone has to say this clearly and compellingly to the children we are nurturing toward wholeness.

Today, and this weekend, and next week—long before we know why those children and their teaches were stolen from us, if indeed we ever come to know that fully—we will be face to face with kids who, in the teeth of this grotesquely efficient evil, question God and the adults who present themselves as being in charge of the world as it is.

We must tell the children it's not supposed to be like this.

We must tell them the God who spoke through the prophets at many times and in various ways—who in these last days has spoken to us by his Son—this God takes no pleasure in the suffering and death of his creatures.

We must tell them it's not supposed to be like this, and someday it won’t be.

We have to tell them the hope of the gospel includes a new heaven and a new earth where goodness is at home—we haven’t seen it, but in faith we see it coming.

In the meantime, we must tell them, life is grace and horrible things happen; people are capable of breathtaking acts of love and staggering acts of violence and oppression; the sun rises and the rain falls on people who are good and people who are horrid.

Raising Adults + Ten Things We Should Never Say to Kids | 99 cent downloads for a limited time | Update

Download Raising Adults

Download Ten Things We Should Never Say to Kids

[Update: Thanks to everyone who downloaded  Raising Adults and Ten Things We Should Never Say to Kids at the special price. Both books are available at Amazon.com for just $2.99 (still a bargain I'm told).] 

From now through December 15th you can download Raising Adults or Ten Things We Should Never Say to Kids for just 99 cents. 

The books are on sale at Amazon in the Kindle Bookstore, but you don't have to own a Kindle to enjoy them. They're also readable on iPhone, iPad, PC, Mac, Android device, BlackBerry, Windows Phone 7, and through the Kindle Cloud Reader. 

So help yourself — and if I'm right about some things in these books, you'll be helping your kids as well = - ).

If you like this deal, tell your friends. If you don't like it, tell me (right here, or on Twitter @jimhancock).

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