Three #thoughtsandprayers Needed for San Bernardino

The Twitter rage against "thoughts and prayers" offered by politicians following yesterday's shooting in San Bernardino, originating with @igorvolsky (and fueled by the New York Daily New's Headline, "God Isn't Fixing This") and his shaming of politicians who tweeted out "thoughts and prayers" and yet have received contributions from the NRA is, admittedly, mostly about apparent hypocrisy and perceived lack of action on the part of lawmakers. That is, I don't think Igor Volsky is wondering about prayer, or if its effective, or what the point of praying is after such an event. He was making a political point, and made it well.But what is the point of prayer after San Bernardino (and Charleston, Paris, Colorado Springs, et. al.)? Does it do anything? And if we are going to offer (thoughts and) prayers, what should be the content of those prayers? I here offer three suggestions.1. LamentI once dropped the f-bomb with God in prayer, while driving down a California freeway, tears streaming down my face, my blood boiling in anger. I had been listening to a sermon podcast in which the preacher was using as an illustration a conversation he had with a law enforcement officer who went after child pornography offenders. The officer had to routinely watch videos in order to find perpetrators, and the preacher went into excruciating detail regarding a case that involved a sickening event of abuse with a four year old girl and her father, with her mother in the room watching. I snapped on I-80. WTF?! My anger was against the abuser, against the preacher for using this illustration for dramatic effect, and, yes, against God that this happened, that the world was like that, that my own four year old daughter was growing up in that world.That prayer on I-80 near the Pinole exit was a prayer of lament. Lament is turning our anger towards God, asking why, screaming, "This is not the way it is supposed to be!" One of the astounding strengths of the Christian Scriptures is how common these prayers are. For a "book" (it's really a library of books) that promotes faith and God's goodness and love, all this rage against the divine is surprising. Yet there it is, throughout: a whole book of it (Lamentations), almost half of the psalms are, in full or in part, laments, and Jesus himself prays, in lament, while dying on the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mark 15.34, quoting Psalm 22).Following the shooting in San Bernardino, lament is the first prayer that should be offered. It is how the family members of the victims are praying today, for one thing, so praying in this way is an act of solidarity. Further, these prayers are common in the Bible because God commends lament. God is against this shooting, against the evil of it; God is enraged, and humbly receives our anger knowing that our cries of injustice will lead to acts of justice. This is the power of lament.2. RepentanceWe need to not only lament; we need also to repent. Biblically, to repent means to turn and walk the other direction. It is also to acknowledge that each of us is complicit in the evil of this world. It indeed would be a powerful kind of prayer from many politicians.It is David's prayer in Psalm 51, ostensibly following his convicting encounter with Nathan the prophet, revealing David's guilt in his affair with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah; it is the bowed heads of Montague and Capulet with the bodies of their children at their feet, and all who surround them, hearing the words  of the Prince: "All are punishéd." Repentance is confessing to God that there are things that we have done, and things that we have left undone. The gun was not in my hand. But Lord, forgive me for my calloused heart, for not having a conversation with my kids after watching a violent movie, for not engaging politically. This is repentance. It is turning the pointed finger toward our own hearts; it is swallowing before the God who made us, acknowledging our own brokenness.3. ComfortI am praying for comfort for the families who are dealing with loss, or who have loved ones in a hospital with severe injuries. Here is what separates "thoughts" from "prayers." I don't really know what sending a "thought" of comfort would do, but I do believe in a God who comforts the afflicted, a God who himself knows affliction, a God whose ears are always listening for cries for mercy. And for the families that are in San Bernardino (and in Charleston, and in Umpqua, and, . . . –we have moved on; they have not), what is needed is an otherworldly comfort, a peace which is beyond understanding, the palpable presence of God within the fiery furnace in which they now exist. These are the prayers that I would want if I was a parent or brother or husband in San Bernardino, wondering how I was going to keep going.It is important to note that God longs to comfort his people, but that this longing is far from pollyannaish, ungrounded in the broken reality of our world. Isaiah's prayer of "Comfort, Comfort, my people" (Isaiah 40.1) can only come, says theologian Walter Brueggemann, after the long pause that follows Isaiah 39, which records the brokenness that Israel will encounter in its captivity in Babylon. Words of comfort are needed, but they often are not the first words that should be spoken. A silent presence, a standing by those who grieve: this is what is needed. And if we are not side by side with those who grieve, we can ask God to bring comfort as grief unfolds.Part of the necessity of these prayers of lament, repentance, and comfort is that they are not "just" prayers; they lead to action. When we lament, our hearts are tuned by the God of justice, that we might re-act to injustice, violence, and evil. This re-action is fueled by repentance, for we open ourselves up to our own complicity. Our prayers for comfort give us the gift of compassion, a necessary gift that will sustain our action when our tv and laptop screens turn to other events.So yes, San Bernardino, my thoughts and prayers are with you.