Today is a day of protests around the country, led by the survivors of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. The kids and families of March for Our Lives will take to the streets of Washington DC to demand that their lives and safety become a priority and that we end gun violence and mass shootings in our schools today.
Read Isaiah 58:6-12
Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.
As you look around our world today, there are many yokes to remove, many ruins to rebuild, many breaches to repair, many streets to restore.
What concerns weigh on your heart these days? What do you fear most? What makes you angry?
What does removing, rebuilding, repairing, restoring mean to you? To what work do you feel God’s nudge?
Talk about the issues that concern you most and what actions you might take.
Here is a lament for this day of the March for our Lives.:
How long, O God, must we feel like outsiders, strangers in a strange land, a people held captive by fear, abuse of power, prejudice, and unjust institutions? How long, O God, must we be in fear for our children who are growing up in a world of terror and violence?
How many people in our country need to be killed by guns until we muster the will and the courage to stop the madness? We long for your justice, for your peace, O God, we long to be released from these shackles of fear and injustice, and until that time, we cry out with the psalmist, “How long?”