Heavenly Father,
we pray for Norway.
For families fractured in grief,
for friends shocked into silence,
for mourners taunted into hatred,
we pray for them all.
We pray, we ask, that you will comfort them,
we ask that you sit with them in their desolation,
that because you are wiser than Job's friends,
you will know the best time to remain silent.
For those who experienced the primeval terror
of being hunted in a primeval way,
whose hearts beat in sudden, certain knowledge of
the imminence of death.
Bind up their beaten hearts Lord,
cover their eyes and their ears for a while
so that they can be at peace.
For those you took away we pray
that you will wipe tears from their eyes
and blood from their faces.
For those you left behind we pray
that you will ease guilt with forgiveness
and light night in perfect timing.
We pray for Anders
with his poisonous hate,
mind fractured
heart twisted
a bitter picture
of everything we've done wrong.
Help us not to be like him,
to take instead the first step of forgiveness.
