Reader 1: Read John 18:1-11 in your preferred translation.

Reader 2: Violence in all its forms is a public health issue.4 March for Our Lives, a movement started by youth impacted by a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, notes that gun violence is the leading cause of death for children in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that 41% of women and 26% of men have experienced some form of intimate partner violence in their lifetimes. According to the American Public Health Association, violence “disproportionately impacts people of color and other oppressed groups such as the [...] LGBTQIA population and those living below the poverty line. Communities living without adequate resources and those facing unfair treatment are more susceptible to all health issues. Exposure to violence is the greatest predictor of future violence.”5

Congregational Response (Prayer of confession)

Reader 2: Please join me in our unison prayer of confession:

Holy One, we are convicted of our addiction to violence. We lament the proliferation and use of firearms. We bemoan the staggering statistics of intimate partner violence. Yet, we confess our own complicity in the pain of our neighbors. Whether we have picked up a gun, uttered harmful words about each other, or simply refused to acknowledge another’s pain, we have betrayed the peace you left with us. We have built war economies that make conflict profitable. We have created societies that justify the violence of food and housing insecurity, racism, discrimination, and marginalization. God of grace, have mercy upon us, and save us from weak resignation to these evils. Amen.

Hymn: “God of Grace and God of Glory” You can sing the entire hymn or just verse 3, which begins with “Cure your children’s warring madness.”