A Prayer for the Danforth

Oh God of Love,
Maker of human neighbours and neighbourhoods,
Hear our prayer
from the Danforth, for the Danforth.

Hear our cry of anguish and disorientation;
Our sidewalk cafes are shattered and scattered;
we are suddenly lost in our own home town.
    Calm us!
Hear our cry of fear,
we run, we hide, from guns
    Protect us!
sometimes—we confess—
we call for even bigger triggers.
    Forgive us!
Hear our cry of grief,
We want to walk with the bereaved,
even just one lonely neighbourly step.
    Comfort them! and us.
Hear our cry of confusion,
Why does one man’s loss of head and heart
spray deathly lead through house and home?
    Heal him!
    Answer us! 
    Call us!
Call us to courage, to imagine peace.

We hear your impossible call to respond in love,
We hear it within ourselves,
We hear it beyond the darkness, blood, and rage.
    Rebuild! Be remade!

Oh God of Love,
    Remake us on the Danforth
    into a new neighbourhood of Peace. Amen.