Prayer in the fearful context of gun violence is mysterious to me. I'm still surprised the first thing through my mind, huddled in a classroom corner was this: Praise God from whom all blessings flow… The doxology. Without knowledge of who fired the shot that echoed through the hall, or if the footfalls beyond the door would bring security or more chaos, I had, amazingly, some peace from this liturgical breath prayer. I gripped my friends' hands and asked God to intervene - to save the shooter who was a child lost and in danger.
That was five years ago, when a classmate came into my high school with multiple weapons, ultimately killing one student and then himself. Thoughts and prayers from that violent moment, and my community's long healing process after, are keepsakes I reexamine when I hear news of more shootings, like the five in five days this January, one in which four young women were shot while at prayer vigil. Or the attacks on two Muslim communities in jumah prayer.
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