Lament for the Loss of Life in Buffalo and Uvalde

Dear Synod,

As we mourn the senseless loss of family in the Buffalo and Uvalde shootings, my own grief and revulsion in the face of relentless hurt leaves me looking for more powerful ways to communicate than the words of a letter. In that spirit I offer this lament:

Are no tears left for me?
My grief too late to register
in the trampling train of tragedy?
One hundred ninety-ninth in twelve dozen days?*

Is sympathy fully spent?
My loss just “next in line”
for hollow hurting hearers?
One hundred ninety-ninth in twelve dozen days.

Calamities outpace days;
care is crushed to callous coping.
“What can anyone do?”
One hundred ninety-nine in twelve dozen days,
... and counting.

God, save us by your grace,
for all our efforts fail.
Be Thou the “God who grieves”
each sparrow’s faint and fall,
each child’s harrowing “Help!”
each grandma’s journey’s end.

Bishop Kurt F. Kusserow

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*NPR counts 198 mass shootings in the United States as of May 15, 2022. The tragic school shooting in Uvalde, TX, falling on the 144th day of 2022 marks the 199th.
https://www.npr.org/2022/05/15/1099008586/mass-shootings-us-2022-tally-number