Reflecting on the Paris massacre: some thoughts worth sharing
Prayer 1
Lord God,
You are the ruler over the universe and in control over all things.
We hear this trumpet blast from Paris today reminding us so powerfully that we are not living in heaven – where there is no more crying, pain, war, suffering or terror – but here below where there is sin, selfishness, sickness, terror and disaster
We pray for those families and friends who are being told of the deaths of people that they love.
We ask for comfort for them. That they may have a sense of your love for them. We can’t identify with their pain. But you can, for you watched as your son Jesus was brutally murdered by wicked men.
You know their pain, their hurt, their anguish.
Thank you that Jesus died to pay for the wickedness of the world. Thank you that you raised him again as ruler and judge.
We thank you that ultimately all will be held accountable before him. And we pray that the victims families may take comfort in that.
We pray for the earthly response, for the emergency responders and law officers in France that you would help them to act wisely, safely and quickly.
We pray that the the terrorists might be caught quickly. We ask that they be given a fair trial and just punishment.
We pray for the leaders of France and the leaders of the world that you might give them wisdom as they respond to this situation.
We beg that you might protect us here from incidents like this.
We pray that people around the world might turn to you in repentance to seek forgiveness in Jesus.
And we ask this in his powerful name.
Amen.
Dominic Steele, Senior Minister at Village Church Annandale, NSW
Prayer 2
Our Heavenly Father,
We are broken hearted at the pictures we see of death and destruction coming out of Paris, at the stories we see of families grieving this terrible loss of life. We know lives are lost everywhere, every day, in conflict, and yet this hits home for us because we see the possibility of our lives in these pictures. Lord we pray that we would resist the temptation to take up arms, to keep fanning the flames of hatred of our neighbours or enemies, flames that consume many. We pray that we would trust that you have truly won the victory over sin and death at the Cross, and that this message is the message of hope and victory that the world needs to hear, and the pattern of fighting evil that we need to adopt. Work in us by your Spirit to give us the mind of Christ to know how to speak about this situation, to pray about it, and to step into this broken world as your counter-cultural army.
We pray for the governments who are deciding how to respond to this terror that you would equip them to break the cycle of hate, to respond with justice, compelled by love. We pray for those feeling outraged by this situation around the world that we would be moved to act with love. We pray for those in our world — our muslim neighbours — who may be caught up in reprisals, or viewed as complicit in these attacks when they were motivated by a faith they don’t recognised. We pray that your people would respond to hatred with love, in a way that makes your Gospel clear. We pray for those inspired by these attacks, who share the beliefs of the attackers, that you would move in their hearts and change their view of victory in the light of Jesus’ ultimate victory.
Finally, we pray that you would bring comfort to the grieving, and that you would return soon to make all things new, to make the defeat of sin and death our experience as well as our reality.
We pray these things in Jesus name, Amen.
Steve Cree, Senior Pastor at Creek RoadPresbyterian Church, Brisbane, Qld
Historical perspective:
Amongst the carnage, it’s easy to ignore the miracles. And one of them has to be that, on an Autumn night in Paris, thousands of Germans and French, were gathered to enjoy a game of soccer between their nations, just for fun, they even call it, “a friendly”. These two great powers have murdered millions of each other since the late 17th Century.
– Matthew Busby Andrews on Facebook
Epping (NSW) Presbyterian makes good point that massacres occur in the Middle East, not just the West.
I am sick of this…
As I write, Paris is under curfew for the first time since the German occupation, and the death toll from the multiple attacks stands at 158, the vast majority of them slaughtered during a concert at the Bataclan theatre, a delightful bit of 19th century Chinoiserie on the boulevard Voltaire. The last time I was there, if memory serves, was to see Julie Pietri. I’m so bloody sick of these savages shooting and bombing and killing and blowing up everything I like – whether it’s the town where my little girl’s favorite fondue restaurant is or my favorite hotel in Amman or the brave freespeecher who hosted me in Copenhagen …or a music hall where I liked to go to hear a little jazz and pop and get away from the cares of the world for a couple of hours. But look at the photographs from Paris: there’s nowhere to get away from it; the barbarians who yell “Allahu Akbar!” are there waiting for you …when you go to a soccer match, you go to a concert, you go for a drink on a Friday night. They’re there on the train… at the magazine office… in the Kosher supermarket… at the museum in Brussels… outside the barracks in Woolwich…
NSW’s Mike Baird Tweets
Mike Baird (@mikebairdMP):
I’ve asked for French flag to fly over the Harbour Bridge. There isn’t one in the country big enough. If we cant find one, we’ll make one.🇫🇷
Malcolm Turnbull and the work of the Devil
“Protecting Australians, protecting freedom, is a global struggle for freedom against those who seek to suppress it and seek to assert some form of religious tyranny. A threat in the name of God, that is truthfully the work of the devil.”
– PM Malcolm Turnbull at an early morning press conference from Berlin
Another Psalm.
Eternity already suggested Psalm 46. But Psalm 7 also works
O Lord my God, in you do I take refuge;
save me from all my pursuers and deliver me,
2 lest like a lion they tear my soul apart,
rending it in pieces, with none to deliver.
3 O Lord my God, if I have done this,
if there is wrong in my hands,
4 if I have repaid my friend with evil
or plundered my enemy without cause,
5 let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it,
and let him trample my life to the ground
and lay my glory in the dust. Selah
6 Arise, O Lord, in your anger;
lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;
awake for me; you have appointed a judgment.
7 Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you;
over it return on high.
8 The Lord judges the peoples;
judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness
and according to the integrity that is in me.
9 Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
and may you establish the righteous—
you who test the minds and hearts,
O righteous God!
10 My shield is with God,
who saves the upright in heart.
Dave Andrews ( author of the Jihad of Jesus) says “hug”
Dear Muslims And Non-Muslims – Embrace one another. Open your arms to make space for the other, to welcome one another. Wrap your arms around each other, to comfort one another, and to keep one another safe. For it is most important to do it, when it is most difficult to do. Dave
Email This Story
Why not send this to a friend?
