May our kids live & my Parkland Shabbat morning worship

This Shabbat, my family and I felt called to “pray with our legs” and attend the closest March For Our Lives. The march closest to where we were staying (while making a grandparent visit) happened to be in Parkland itself.

The liturgy of my morning prayers was shared by Marjorie Douglas Stoneman High School teachers, bereft parents, students who were physically and emotionally wounded, and a community mourning the seventeen students and teachers who were murdered in their school on February 14th.

On this Shabbat morning, so many prayers were offered:

Prayers for healing for those who were injured and for those have lost their loved ones.

Prayers and tears of memory for shining children, students, teachers, and coaches who were stolen from our world.

Prayers of gratitude for the community’s and country’s compassion and action.

And sermons of prophetic outrage— What kind of country are we that our students are more worried about bullet proof school yards and schools than their studies? What kind of society are we that our politicians can be so easily bought by the NRA and the gun lobby? When is enough, enough?

This is not a march but a marathon. It a journey that will be made with kids from across our nation, from inner city to suburb, recognizing that bullets do not discriminate as they build bridges to movement that will create change.

God give us the strength to hear our kids’ cries and to follow their lead to creating responsible gun laws.

May our kids live. May our kids lead.