Today is the national day of prayer. There are many things that need to be lifted up in prayer. I could write several entries and not come up with an exhaustive list. However, I would like to encourage everyone to lift up Chicago in your prayers today. Specifically, I ask that you would pray against the violence that has been occurring recently in the city. This school year alone approximately 25 Chicago Public School students have been killed as a result of violence (they weren't necessarily killed "at school" but they are all students within the school system). This number is possibly even higher than this because not all incidents get the same amount of news coverage. Two weekends ago there were 30 shootings in Chicago over the course of the weekend.
All of this violence has hit close to home this year (and in recent years) because it effects the young people that I work with - it effects my kids. In September a 14 year old young man was shot across the street from my building. When I cam walking home on that Friday evening, there was yellow tape marking off the scene of the crime. The student that was killed that night was a part of the 8th grade classroom that I volunteer in. The teacher has intentionally left his desk as it was. His name tag is still on the desk. No one moves his chair. Everyone in the classroom was effected in some way by the incident. Recently, as the violence in the city has picked up the most consistent prayer requests from our tutoring kids (2nd through 5th graders) is for safety for them and for their families and for their friends. Whether a young person is 7 or 16, they are very much aware of the violence and of what seems an ever-present sense of the threat of violence.
Here is a video that was on the Chicago Tribune's web site today that highlights the effects that violence has on kids.
In future blog entries, I am going to highlight what ministries and community organizations around the city and in my neighborhood (Woodlawn) are doing to combat this violence. But in this entry, I am asking that you join with me in prayer. Pray that peace would reign in the streets of our city. Pray that the young people and their families would be protected. Pray also for those that are caught up in the violence - those who see limited other alternatives and possibilities outside of the streets. Pray that a sense of hope and love would overwhelm them. Pray for God's people in the city. Pray that we would not retreat, but that we would raise up and have a real presence (Real ministry happens within the context of real relationships). Pray that God would move and that Christ would be lifted up.
