Prayer for France

On Saturday morning I contacted my dear friend Lewis Galloway, the pastor of Second Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis, and asked him for a favor. Lewis is fluent in French. I asked him if he would write a prayer for me in French that I could read in church on Sunday. Instead of making fun of my terrible French (And it is terrible, it was pretty good once. Once.), Lewis told me he would see what he could do. After a while he told me he had something. He told me he had .written and translated a prayer based upon a reflection by Laurent Schlumberger, Pasteur of the French Reformed Church. Laurent's reflection was in response to the November 13 attacks. So Lewis wrote it. I read it. And I post it here as several have asked for it. Please forgive any translation errors or French errors. Any errors are entirely my responsibility and for them I am sorry.

Notre Seigneur, les mots manquent, devant l’horreur et l’absurde de ce massacre en Ile-de-

France. L’horreur de ces dizaines et dizaines de morts et de blesses. L’horreur de ces vies

détruites et de ces familles décimées. L’absurde d’un massacre qui tue à l’aveugle. L’absurde

d’une idéologie terroriste qui évoque un dieu assoiffé de sang.

Nous portons devant Vous  les victimes, et toutes celles et ceux qui en prennent soin. Nous

portons devant Vous  les hommes et les femmes des services publics qui sont mobilisés, et les

responsables de France, de notre pays, et le monde entier. Mais aussi nous prions pour que la

violence recule chez ceux qui sont aveuglés par des fantasmes de pureté radicale.

Donnez-nous le courage et la discipline à cultiver la solidarité et la fraternité, si fragiles, si

précieuses. Nous remettons le temps présent et toute chose, à Dieu qui en Jésus-Christ  nous

rejoint et nous accompagne dans nos détresses et dans nos espoirs. Au nom de Jesus-Christ.

Amen.

Translation:

Lord, words fail before the horror and the absurdity of the massacre in Ile-de-France (Paris). The horror

of the dozens and dozens of dead and wounded savagely killed.  The horror of lives destroyed and

families decimated. The absurdity of a massacre that killed blindly. The absurdity of a terrorist ideology

that evokes a blood-thirsty god.

We lift before you the victims and all those in need of care. We lift before you the men and women in

public service who have been mobilized and the leaders of France, our country and the entire world.

Also, we pray that violence recedes from those who are blinded by fantasies of radical purity.

Give us the courage and the discipline to cultivate the solidarity and unity that is so precious and so

fragile. We give this present time and all things to you who in Jesus Christ joins and accompanies us in

our distress and in our hopes. In the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.