We are praying for Nashville today
The phrase “close to home” hit us quite literally.
The Covenant School, the site of the Nashville shooting, was in the same neighborhood as our newlywed home, right down the street from the Bluebird Cafe.
This morning, I looked up the pastor on Facebook, wondering if we had mutual friends from being a part of the same PCA denomination.
As my husband Mark (Pastor Mark) and I talked about the tragedy, I asked if he knew that one of the victims was the lead pastor’s daughter. His face answered before his mouth. Shock, then sadness, then fear.
I could see the thoughts forming in his head before he said them aloud. “Do you think she was targeted for being the pastor’s daughter?” Not only grieving for the pastor, he simultaneously thought of our daughter Lucy — a PCA pastor’s daughter and student of our PCA school. He thought of Emmie, Pastor Tyler’s daughter. Elli, Bella, Mia.
I handed him my phone with the pastor’s family photo, showing a happy couple, a bunch of boys, and one little daughter (Hallie) front and center. It’s heartbreaking to know that she’s gone now. Their photos will never look like that again.
We know firsthand that pastors and their families can bear heavy burdens and unique challenges, but this one is unfathomable.
As much as we grieve for Hallie and her family, our hearts go out to ALL of the victims. We are praying for Nashville today.
Here is a note from Pastor Tyler:
As many of you know by now, there was a shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville. It is part of Covenant Presbyterian Church, PCA. I have no words this morning, especially for the Lead Pastor who lost one of his own children. It hits too close. But I did want to offer this lament and prayer from another PCA pastor. May we together offer this prayer today as we mourn with those who mourn.
“For these things I weep; my eyes will flow with tears; for a comforter is far from me, one to revive my spirit; my children are desolate, for the enemy has prevailed… Look O Lord for I am in distress; my stomach churns; my heart is wrung within me… in the street the sword bereaves…my eyes are spent with weeping… Arise, cry out in the night… pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord! Lift your hands to him for the lives of your children… O Lord, look and see! — from Lamentations 1-2
Oh God, be Merciful,
‘You have fed us with the bread of tears and given us tears to drink in full measure.’
Our hearts are broken for the families of the six people whose lives were taken in the expression of evil at Covenant.
We ask that you will be merciful. Pour out grace we can’t comprehend on those who bear pain we can’t imagine. We have no words to do what only your Spirit can provide. God, be merciful.
For the family of our brother Chad Scruggs, in the loss of their daughter and sister, Hallie, Father, be merciful.
For the families of the other two children, Lord, be merciful.
For the families of the three adults whose lives were taken, Lord be merciful.
For those injured in the attack, Lord be merciful.
For the Covenant School, their Students, Faculty, and Administration, Father, be merciful.
For the Covenant Presbyterian Church community, their Members, Pastors, Staff, Young People, Children, and Leaders, God, be merciful.
For the family of the attacker, Lord, be merciful.
For area Churches and Pastors throughout the City, Father, be merciful.
For Greater Nashville, Father, be merciful.
For the life of the Church in the world, Lord, be merciful.
For the hope of the world, God be merciful.
Though we live in the promise of what will one day be, when one day all sorrow, sadness, weeping, and death will be no more, today we are devastated for our brothers and sisters. In this, ‘our tears have been our food, day and night.’
Come Quickly, Lord Jesus. Amen.