Lament for a homicide: when a child kills a child

Dear God,

You understand heartbreak. 

You know what it is to lose a child to senseless violence.

Lord, fall on us and blanket our misery!

Bring vengeance on the perpetrators of injustice.

This latest act of violence against a child sickens and saddens me.

No parent should lose a child because someone else’s child is angry, confused, or traumatized.

Or just a sinner, committing a sin.

And now another child has died.

Sometimes the killed child is an unborn baby.

Sometimes it’s a neglected child.

Sometimes it’s a teenager, caught up in drugs or theft 

or just being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Sometimes a child’s death is caused by someone’s trauma,

someone’s desperation,

someone’s mental illness

someone’s cruelty.

It’s shocking what we humans are capable of doing.

It’s all so horrible,

and I know it grieves you.

You desire hope, healing, peace, love, forgiveness, restitution, belonging.

May my heart always break when your heart breaks.

I pray you covering and blessing on the family who grieves a tragic loss.

I pray your revelation, conviction, and redemption on the child who kills.

I ask for your protection of our children. Preserve them to share your gospel.

Comfort the families who grieve their lost children.

Save the souls of those who wander in darkness.

Redeem the violence, the mistakes, 

the lost days and years.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.

Written in honor of Lucia Bremer, who was shot to death by another child, in my old neighborhood, on the streets where my children played safely, near the school where they safely attended. I pray peace and comfort to Lucia’s parents and friends. Pray for the neighborhood, where this child who killed her lived. Click here and here for the developing story. Please pray for the Bremer family and the young man who shot her; may he seek and find forgiveness.