Community Vigil for the Virginia Tech Tragedy
April 24, 2007
Pacific School of Religion, chapel steps
Sponsored by the PANA Institute and the PSR Office of Community Life
Prayer
Dear Holy One,
We, as ones who have received Your grace and ones who are enabled to call upon you, are before You.
We thank You. Thank You for Your grace to know You and be known by You. Thank you for our new identify as Your children and to be a part of Your reality of community.
We thank You for allowing the community of PANA, with the office of Community of Life at PSR, to have a space for this gathering.
As brothers and sisters, we are here to dedicate our hearts and minds in remembrance of those souls affected by the recent tragedy at Virginia Tech.
Here, we call You to Your presence. Here, we call You for Your guidance and Your comfort, because we are sad, and sorrow for those who are not here any longer and for those who suffered through the loss.
Let our spirits be touched by Yours, for only You can read and know our inner state of hearts and minds.
And only You can create our new space to initiate our comfort and peace and to guide and sustain that condition for our blessings and for Your glory.
Therefore, open Your ears to hear our inner voices and open Your eyes to see our devotions.
We pray that through this time of gathering, You grant us Your strength and comfort so that we can have our peace.
Thank you and pray in the name of Your Son Jesus. Amen
-- prayer led by Kyung-Min Daniel Lee
April 24, 2007
Pacific School of Religion, chapel steps
Sponsored by the PANA Institute and the PSR Office of Community Life
PrayerDear Holy One,
We, as ones who have received Your grace and ones who are enabled to call upon you, are before You.
We thank You. Thank You for Your grace to know You and be known by You. Thank you for our new identify as Your children and to be a part of Your reality of community.
We thank You for allowing the community of PANA, with the office of Community of Life at PSR, to have a space for this gathering.
As brothers and sisters, we are here to dedicate our hearts and minds in remembrance of those souls affected by the recent tragedy at Virginia Tech.
Here, we call You to Your presence. Here, we call You for Your guidance and Your comfort, because we are sad, and sorrow for those who are not here any longer and for those who suffered through the loss.
Let our spirits be touched by Yours, for only You can read and know our inner state of hearts and minds.
And only You can create our new space to initiate our comfort and peace and to guide and sustain that condition for our blessings and for Your glory.
Therefore, open Your ears to hear our inner voices and open Your eyes to see our devotions.
We pray that through this time of gathering, You grant us Your strength and comfort so that we can have our peace.
Thank you and pray in the name of Your Son Jesus. Amen
-- prayer led by Kyung-Min Daniel Lee
About the Centerpiece
The centerpiece of today’s vigil was designed by PSR student Yi Rang Lim.
The center collage features those who lost their lives in the tragedy at Virginia Tech. Surrounding their images are those of persons who mourn and grieve over the tragedy—while they may have no direct connection to those who perished, they feel connected to them and have been affected by their lives and by their deaths.
Surrounding the images are stones representing our own organic connectedness to the earth.
In many Asian cultures, water symbolizes the cleansing of pain and grief. Symbolically, the tragedy at Virginia Tech rests under the cleansing power of clear water.
Also, in many Asian cultures, white chrysanthemums symbolize grief and mourning—by placing the flowers into the pond, we share in another’s pain.
In addition, there are 33 candles, one for each of those who died in the tragedy.
Today, we encircle these images and symbols as a way of standing in solidarity with those who are in pain, those who mourn, and those who grieve at Virginia Tech and around the globe—we do so knowing that whatever affects one, affects us all.
Related post:
PANA Executive Director Fumitaka Matsuoka's letter about the tragedy.
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