{"id":68908,"date":"2025-12-13T20:51:31","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T02:51:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=68908"},"modified":"2025-12-13T20:51:33","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T02:51:33","slug":"an-awful-advent-hymn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/13\/an-awful-advent-hymn\/","title":{"rendered":"An awful Advent hymn"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong><em>By Katharine E. Harmon, December 13, 2025<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another active shooter.  Another life.  And another.  <br>Be strong, fear not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is a desert, a parched land.  There are students hiding under their desks in the dark.<br>Your God comes to save you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Death is hiding in the streets of Providence.<br>Lord, come and save us.  May sorrow and mourning flee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Can we do more than offer thoughts and prayers?  <br>No more violence.  No more weapons.  No more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Lord secures justice for the oppressed.<br>The way of the wicked he thwarts. <br><br>Then the desert and the parched land will exult.  <br>Children will have no fear, and parents have no reason to weep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Come, Lord Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pray for all the people of Brown University, of Providence, RI, and all the corners of the earth where broken souls strangled by evil take the lives of the innocent.  Pray for an end to gun violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KATHARINE E. 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