From The President’s Desk
It has been 10 long years since the Gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, killed 6 people and wounded 4 others. These were devoted worshipers as well as family members whose only crime was attending their local Sikh temple to worship.
At the 10-year commemoration of this terrible event, the interfaith community of Oak Creek came together in solidarity, in grief, and in support of all that was lost that fateful day.
Unfortunately, since then, many houses of worship of all kinds have had similar shootings occur, with devoted congregants injured or killed for simply being in their house of worship. One of the worse being the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C, where 9 lost their lives while attending a Bible study.
We pray to our Creator to stop the violence, to change our ways, to help us find solutions to have peace in the world.
God, our hearts are broken with pain at the senseless deaths caused by gun violence. Families mourn, children live in fear, and some in our nation respond by arming themselves with more guns with greater capacity to end life. Our disconnection and alienation has caused some to turn to guns for protection and safety. We ask that you touch our hearts with your love, heal our brokenness, and turn us away from violence toward peace. Help us to transform our own hearts and to seek peaceful ways of resolving our differences. Let our hands reach out and connect with those who feel alone, those who live in fear, and those suffering from mental illness. Let our voices be raised asking our legislators to enact gun laws to protect all in our society, especially those most vulnerable. Let our pens write messages demanding change while also scripting words of hope and transformation. We ask this in the name of the God who desires that we live together in peace. Amen. Prayer: Let the Shooting End – Sisters of Mercy
Read article – Sikhs mark 10th anniversary of Oak Creek, Wisconsin, temple shooting – The Washington Post