‘May God Heal Their Little Hearts, Their Little Souls’: Prayer And Lament In Uvalde
Weekend Plug-in 🔌
Editor’s note: Every Friday, “Weekend Plug-in” features analysis, fact checking and top headlines from the world of faith. Subscribe now to get this newsletter delivered straight to your inbox. Got feedback or ideas? Email Bobby Ross Jr. at therossnews@gmail.com.
(ANALYSIS) Another week.
Another mass shooting — this time at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
I lack the words to convey the enormity of this tragedy.
Instead, as we mourn the 19 innocent children and two teachers slain Tuesday, let’s reflect on these expressions of faith and lament:
“We don’t know what to pray. … We just know we’re hurting, and our God hurts with us.” — Zach Young, worship pastor for Crossroads Community Church in San Antonio (via San Antonio Express-News story by Jacob Beltran)
“We’re just trying to encourage each other and trying to get through this.” — John Juhasz, outreach minister for Getty Street Church of Christ in Uvalde (via story by Washington Post team)
“The only way we can fix this country is to get down on our knees and humble ourselves before God. I am here to support this community and to ask God to heal our land.” — Jennifer Fry, mother of two young children, interviewed at a prayer vigil in Uvalde (via story by Wall Street Journal team)
“We may not understand what happened … but we seek the Lord, as best we can.” — Carlos Contreras, minister at Primera Iglesia Bautista (First Baptist Church) in Uvalde (via Texas Tribune story by Erin Douglas and Jason Beeferman)
“Prayer should be where we start, not where we finish. If we were praying genuine prayers about gun violence, we would see a lot more genuine action.” — Taylor Schumann, author of ”When Thoughts and Prayers Aren’t Enough: A Shooting Survivor’s Journey Into the Realities of Gun Violence” (via Religion News Service story by Emily McFarlan Miller)
“The Catholic Church consistently calls for the protection of all life; and these mass shootings are a most pressing life issue on which all in society must act — elected leaders and citizens alike.” — Catholic Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller of San Antonio (via America story by Michael O’Loughlin)
“Enough is enough. We want to stand up for our children. But it’s not just our children experiencing gun violence. It’s adults. It’s everyone.” — the Rev. Emanuel Cleaver III, senior pastor for St. James United Methodist Church in Kansas City, Missouri (via Kansas City Star story by Glenn E. Rice and Robert A. Cronkleton)
“Thoughts and prayers can really mean something — if those thoughts and prayers reveal the extent of evil and break our hearts with the love and sorrow of God. In lament and litany, we can discover we have the power to act.” — Christian author Diana Butler Bass (via Deseret News story by Kelsey Dallas)
“Pray for those children that saw what happened to their friends. May God heal their little hearts, their little souls. Pray for each of us as we help them.” — Tony Gruben, pastor at Baptist Temple Church in Uvalde (via story by Austin American-Statesman team)
Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads
1. How the ‘apocalyptic’ Southern Baptist report almost didn’t happen: A special Monday Plug-in highlighted the long-awaited release of an independent investigation into sexual abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention.
Since then, the headlines have kept coming, including an enlightening piece by Religion News Service’s Bob Smietana on how “the investigation that led to the report almost died numerous times.”
The latest: Thursday night’s release of a long-secret list of accused ministers. See coverage by The Associated Press’ Holly Meyer and Deepa Bharath.
More headlines:
• Southern Baptist Convention report raises questions about Nashville firm's guidance on abuse crisis (by Mariah Timms and Liam Adams, The Tennessean)
• Southern Baptists move to release pastor list, repudiate old approach to survivors (by Kate Shellnutt, Christianity Today)
• Southern Baptist sex abuse report stuns, from pulpit to pews (by Ruth Graham and Elizabeth Dias, New York Times)
• Key takeaways from the bombshell sex abuse report by Southern Baptists (by Sarah Pulliam Bailey, Washington Post)
• Report on Southern Baptists faults Arkansas' Floyd over clergy abuse list secrecy (by Frank E. Lockwood, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
• Southern Baptist leaders apologize to sex abuse victims (by Kris Maher, Wall Street Journal)
• Alleged assault by former SBC president may be most damaging part of explosive report (by Yonat Shimron, RNS)
• How two Texas newspapers broke open the Southern Baptist sex scandal (by Elahe Izadi, Washington Post)
2. A pastor confessed to ‘adultery.’ The woman cried out: ‘I was just 16’: Pastor John Lowe II “got a standing ovation for coming clean,” the Washington Post’s Jonathan Edwards reports. “But moments later, a woman came to the lectern, took the microphone and told her side of the story.”
At Religion News Service, Bob Smietana writes that “for abuse survivors like Jules Woodson, the Indiana pastor video is all too familiar.”
3. Oklahoma softball and the secrets behind the most dominant team in sports: With all the heavy news this week, enjoy this story by ESPN’s Hallie Grossman.
"Faith is this team's drumbeat,” Grossman explains as she delves into what makes the Sooners tick.
BONUS: The New York Times’ Jason Horowitz had a front-page story Sunday on “The Russian Orthodox leader at the core of Putin’s ambitions.”
Just a few days later, the Wall Street Journal published Matthew Luxmoore’s profile of Patriarch Kirill, headlined “Putin’s powerful Orthodox Church ally helps cement Russian support for war.”
The role of religion in Russia’s war on Ukraine has, of course, been the subject of in-depth coverage here at ReligionUnplugged.com.
More Top Reads
• Dispute over mosque becomes religious flashpoint in India (by Sheikh Saaliq and Krutika Pathi, Associated Press)
• For members of Mother Emanuel, Buffalo shooting stirs painful memories (by Keith L. Alexander and Vanessa Williams, Washington Post)
• Most Americans pray for their co-workers. But the company? Not so much (by Kelsey Dallas, Deseret News)
• Survey: American Airlines most faith-friendly among Fortune 500 (by Mark A. Kellner, Washington Times)
• AME Church sues former pension fund director, alleging he stole millions (by Jennifer Berry Hawes and Thad Moore, Post and Courier)
• Many Jewish World War II soldiers had Christian burials. That’s changing (by Liam Stack, New York Times)
• At a Minnesota evangelical school, Black students sought racial reckoning, then felt the pushback (by Elizabeth Shockman, Minnesota Public Radio)
• After 2,000 U.K. church buildings close, new church plants get creative (by Rachel Pfeiffer, Christianity Today)
• Mormon elder says church backs gay rights with religious protections (by Mark A. Kellner, Washington Times)
• Christian leaders press lawmakers to extend child tax credit for poor families (by Jack Jenkins, Religion News Service)
• Josh Duggar found guilty in child sex abuse materials case (by Kate Shellnutt, Christianity Today)
• Think piece: RIP Catholic News Service — gone too soon and when we needed you most (by Thomas Reese, Religion News Service)
Inside The Godbeat: Behind The Bylines
The New Yorker’s Isaac Chotiner interviewed Kate Shellnutt, senior news editor at Christianity Today, about the decades of sexual abuse cover-up in the Southern Baptist Convention.
In other news, the Chattanooga Times Free Press has an opening for a new religion reporter as Wyatt Massey prepares to take a new job.
Charging Station: In Case You Missed It
Here is where you can catch up on recent news and opinions from ReligionUnplugged.com.
• The U.S. bishops, three popes and the soul of Nancy Pelosi (by Terry Mattingly)
• Was Jesus a socialist? Concerning the 'rich young ruler' and modern economics (by Richard Ostling)
• Ukrainians count the days as they pray (by Erik Tryggestad)
• Church near Uvalde, Texas, school shooting scene conducts prayer vigil (by Audrey Jackson)
• Growing Haredi numbers poised to alter global Judaism (by Ira Rifkin)
• ‘He’s just a salesman’: Former Morningside band director talks Bakker’s ministry tactics (by Jillian Cheney)
• What Is a Latter-day Saint temple? (by Taylor Petrey)
• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi questions Archbishop's decision regarding communion ban (by Clemente Lisi)
• 9 known Muslim prisoners of conscience in Kazakhstan face torture, solitary confinement (by Felix Corley)
• As evangelical Christians, we are bringing reproach to the name of Jesus (by Dr. Michael Brown)
The Final Plug
Even as America’s attention shifts to Uvalde, grieving Buffalo, New York — site of a May 14 grocery store shooting that claimed 10 lives — buries its dead.
“Angry but not shocked at racist violence, the victims' families at funerals this week have a prayer: Let these deaths not be in vain,” Christianity Today’s Emily Belz reports from Buffalo.
Thank you for reading.
Make time this weekend to hug your loved ones.
Bobby Ross Jr. is a columnist for ReligionUnplugged.com and editor-in-chief of The Christian Chronicle. A former religion writer for The Associated Press and The Oklahoman, Ross has reported from all 50 states and 15 nations. He has covered religion since 1999.