Memorial Service for the Victims & Families
of the Massacre at Virginia Tech

Sponsored by the Council of Korean Churches of Greater New York
at the Hyo Shin Bible Presbyterian Church, Flushing
April 19, 2007

Memorial Remarks

The Rev. N. J. L'Heureux, Jr.
Executive Director, Queens Federation of Churches

We have a special opportunity tonight as we gather. Quite obviously, we mourn the loss of so many lives on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute. I have been on the VPI campus a couple of times over the years and know it to be a delightful environment. All that has changed, at least for the moment, because of the violence which came from one who was apparently in deep mental distress.

You have heard me say many times that this World is God’s Household, the home of all the children of God’s Family. When one suffers, we all suffer.

I am mindful of your concerns and special identification with this act of wanton mayhem by reason of nationality or ethnicity. But let me affirm as strongly as I can, that our identity together as human beings – and, thus, as children of the one Creator God – places no one nearer or further in relationship to the one who caused this terrible, terrible suffering.

We have come to offer prayers for the families that have been torn apart. We have come to pray for the college community. We have come to pray for our nation and the world which have become home to an excessive amount of violence in these days.

We pray that God, by his Holy Spirit, will give us vision, strength and courage to face these challenges and work for wholeness in our time.

We pray for the clarity of vision to know that God’s love for us – and our willingness to share that love with others – are the very threads which holds together the fabric of society. We pray for insight and compassion for those who are pushed aside by society – the loners and outcasts who become the breeding ground for mental instability, for hatred – and are consumed by outrage, even as we mourn for their victims.

We would pray tonight for the power of God to sweep our communities clean of rage and of vengeance which creates a cycle of escalating violence. We pray tonight that God’s power will put an end to all forms of violence that constrains and robs us all of the fullness of life in God’s Creation.

We pray in this place especially for the courage to declare to those responsible for the law of the land that they take effective steps to stop violence and the easy access to weapons that extend the violence in every aspect of life. We ask our leaders to lead by example and end the cruelty of war and of torture.

Especially, this evening, we are prayerful in our declaration that there is no suffering where God does not make himself available. The offering which God made in the suffering of his Son on Calvary’s Cross is His dramatic identification with human suffering in all its forms.

We are here, in the midst of grief and mourning, to share the promise of Resurrection with all who believe and who follow the path of love in our Lord.

It is important that we take note that in asking for God’s “comfort” we are not asking for a soft pillow. The word “com-fort” derives literally in its meaning “with strength.” In their grief and profound sorrow, may the families take comfort in the God of Creation. In the fear and turmoil of a community left shaken and fragile, we ask God to bring the strength of his comfort. Our fear will be assuaged by the strength of God’s arm and the power of his might.

Memorial Prayer

Holy Father God, your love for each one of us is steadfast. You have brought each of us into being by the power of that love. With you, we cry when the life of any of your children is cut short before achieving full stature in the community.

The tragedy of recent days reveals too clearly the uncertainties of life. We mourn with every family who has lost a child – a sister, a brother, a father, a mother. As members of each other, we know that when one suffers, all suffer. Make your presence known among them and among us here. Let the blessings of your heart define our hearts in love toward each who suffer.

We pray for the students and faculty of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and the people of Blacksburg. Instill in them a renewed sense of community and the promise of safety. Enable them to return to the scenes of their daily lives with fortitude and with hope, knowing that lives lived in you are forever.

We are perplexed by the acts of a brother who kills innocent men and women. We pray as well for his family that they may find health and wholeness in you in this hour of grief and horror.

Awaken in each of us a knowledge that we are children of your Creation, celebrating the life breathed into each of us by your Holy Spirit. Quicken us to receive the gift of that Spirit, even life eternal in your presence.

We make this prayer in the blessed name of Jesus, whose agonizing death on a Cross opened the door to Paradise for your children. Amen.