Norway

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.