Again we join people across our nation and around the world with mourning and lament. We pray for the families of the 50 people slain, and the 53 wounded victims of the horrific slaughter of innocent lives in Orlando. Let us hold them in our hearts. We grieve for the peoples of LGBTQ communities everywhere as the gunman targeted a specific group in Florida. We offer our deepest sympathies and care for all those who are victimized in any way by this senseless act of hate and terror.
As we have done now far too many times in the recent past, we again cry out, “Oh Lord, how long?” How long will we allow such hate-filled and/or unstable people to have such ready and easy access to weapons capable of this kind of mass destruction? Let us be in prayer and let us be pro-active with the leaders of our nation.
God surround you all with compassion and care on this holy day that has been stained so severely. We trust God to meet us and embrace us in the midst of such suffering and tragedy.
+Bishop Murray D. Finck
Pacifica Synod–ELCA
