The Most Rev Mark Strange, Bishop of Moray, Ross and Caithness, Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church says:
This past week we have seen death in Sierra Leone, natural disaster aggravated by poverty and exploitation, we have witnessed rage and intolerance in a nation that claims to be the land of the free and on Thursday another community and another random group of people are attacked for an ideology that has nothing to do with the faith they claim to uphold.
I offer prayer at a moment in time when darkness and fear, disillusionment and anger seem to be in every corner of the world. It is a prayer for Justice and Peace which I have often used at difficult times. Justice and Peace is what I believe we are called to seek.
Leaders of nations threaten each other, bring division and offer examples of self interest that can only teach intolerance and superiority.
So what do we do?
We pray and people say why bother, we bother because we believe that by naming the pain and offering concern that can sooth the hurt.
We work with the institutions of society and we are told it is not our place, yet only by talking, sharing and caring can we possibly understand one another.
We try to live a life that puts others first and allows us to share what we have and to receive what others offer and we are called weak. Yet I know it is in acknowledging that weakness that I can begin to offer justice and the peace to those around me.
So please pray, for courage in the face of evil, for strength in our weakness and for the love that is so hard to hold onto but for which the world cries out.