Prayer Liturgy for a Hurting Community

Last Thursday, a school bus was in an accident with a garbage truck. 17 of the 25 students were injured in some way, three were sent to the hospital in critical condition, and one was taken from this life. The following is the prayer liturgy we did in place of the sermon. As you read it, please lift up a prayer for the family of Isabelle Tezsla, the young lady who passed away.

Intercessory Prayer Liturgy

God of love, heal us.

Lord, we don't have words for what we've seen. There are no words. There are only tears…

God of love, heal us.

… tears for Isabelle Tezsla, for a young and promising life cut off, for a loved one whom we can hold no more.

God of love, heal us.

… tears for the Tezla family who is one triplet short, for Natalie and Sophie who will not see their sister’s smile until they see it in Heaven, for her parents who will not embrace her again until they embrace her in eternity.

God of love, heal us.

… tears for a classroom that is now one desk too many, for Jonathan Zdybel who is still in critical condition at the hospital, for the other twenty-four children who were on the bus with Isabelle, for the school that will feel the shocks of this for years to come.

God of love, heal us.

… tears for John Tieman and Michael Caporale, your children and servants to this community, who will forever live with the weight of this day upon their hearts.

God of love, heal us.

… tears for the first responders: the police, firemen, and EMT’s who had to witness what no one should ever have to witness: the life slowly extinguishing out of one so young.

God of love, heal us.

We ache, Lord, for the sense of loss that permeates our community. We ache with the brevity of this situation, and we ache knowing that we live in a broken world and that this will not be the last of our heartaches.

God of love, heal us.

We need you now, Lord. Instill in us the strength to go on. Sit with us in the ashes and mourn with us in the hidden places.

God of love, heal us.

God of love, God of blessing, God of life eternal, God of life all-powerful, God of life beyond all words, beyond all hurts, beyond all pain…

… God of love, heal us. Amen.