This morning, most Americans are waking up to news of another mass shooting—this time in Las Vegas—and, this time, the worst in our country’s history.
We will sit in front of the TV, our regular morning routine put on hold as we see the all-too-familiar images of police setting up barricades, victims being evacuated, and a slowly increasing casualty count scrolling across the bottom of the screen. In our shock, we often default to news consumption, waiting on every bit of information:
Who was the shooter and why did he do this?
What about the wounded?
What does this mean moving forward?
What needs to change in our country?
These questions are important questions, but let me propose for Christians that after we have learned of the shooting, we turn away a moment from news consumption and turn towards prayer.
#ThoughtsAndPrayers?
I wrote in response to San Bernardino that prayer is often depicted as “not enough” or, even worse, as political posturing. But Scripture both models and teaches that prayer is central to the Christian life. Regrettably, #ThoughtsAndPrayers was already trending this morning on Twitter, but not in a good way.
Some will criticize politicians for their prayers today, calling them to action. But, I’m not a lawmaker and I think prayer is action. Not the only action needed, but a good one right now in this moment.
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