Zion Weekly Connect - https://mailchi.mp/d5e58736606e/cultivating-community-at-zion-9299751 (fb)

We join our hearts and prayers to these words offered by Minneapolis Area Synod Bishop, Jen Nagle. As most have heard, this morning a mass shooter opened fire at Annunciation Catholic Church in south Minneapolis during a school mass, injuring dozens and killing at least two children in attendance. God, have mercy. Parents, children, community members, and neighbors, are grappling with how to respond to this shocking act of violence. No one should fear for their safety or the safety of their children while they are at school or church. While we are still learning more about what happened, we know that grief, fear, shock, trauma, and anger are rippling across Minneapolis and the region. We know that there are a number of ELCA congregations who are grieving and accompanying the Annunciation and South Minneapolis communities. Some members of our congregations have been directly affected, those who act as first responders, those who care for the hurt (in body and spirit) at our local hospitals, those who are providing pastoral care, those who are safe and hugging neighbors and family a little tighter, those who are planning vigils and showing up in prayer or presence. It’s important in these moments that we hold one another in tenderness and prayer, and that we tend to our own spirits. And we know that God sits with us in this grief, praying with sighs too deep for words. With compassion, Bishop Jen (fb)