A prayer of healing for Northern Illinois University

To the Community of NIU:

On behalf of the administration, staff, faculty and students of Eureka College, I extend our community's deepest sympathies and prayers of support to the NIU community during a time of great pain and loss.  At 11:50 AM the morning after the shooting, a large number of people gathered in our small campus' Peace Garden to pray for you, and for those on our campus with family or friends at NIU.  One of our finest students lost a friend in that classroom, but stayed on campus until he could join our circle of prayer. Words cannot express the range and depth of feelings at such a moment - anguish, shock, loss of innocence, vulnerability - yet God knows all, and feels it just as acutely with us.  Once again, our students showed us the power of a caring heart as we prayed together  May God's compassion and healing be witnessed in your midst, even through such trying times.

Sincerely,

Rev. Bruce Fowlkes, Chaplain
Eureka College
Eureka, Illinois

This prayer was offered up during a gathering of the Eureka College community, in the
Ronald Reagan Peace Garden, February 15th, 2008. Written by Mary Fitch and delivered by
Nichole Mansfield, EC sophomores.

Our Father, we come to you today as family, friends, teachers, faculty, staff, students who have been affected by this shooting at Northern Illinois University. We are grieving. So many people have lost their lives, so many people are hurting. So many people are hurt.  God because of this incident we have many losses.

The loss of life. There were 7 people killed in this shooting including the gunman. We pray that you will be with the families and friends of these people who died. Life is such a precious gift from you. Please God change the hearts of those who have pain and anger in their hearts. Help them realize that lives are important. 

The loss of safety. On college campuses we want to feel safe. We feel protected. But when out of the blue a person with anger in his heart comes and takes the lives of others, the security in our schools is threatened.

The loss of trust. In our lives we trust so many people. This trust is unrestricted, but when something like this happens, how can we trust even the person we sit by in our classes. God we pray for all of those names lifted up to you this afternoon. We pray for all the students at Northern Illinois University, give them peace. Give them comfort. Let them know that you are there.

We also pray for the shooter. We don’t know what would cause someone to do something so terrible. God protect our hearts that we might not act in a rage of violence. We also ask that you help us reach out to those who we may suspect could act on their anger in such a way.

We pray for the family of the shooter - Steven Kazmierczak. They may be feeling such guilt and such shame. We don’t know what is going on in their lives. We pray that you will be with his family, let them know there are people out there who care. Let them know you care.

This act of violence was not your plan for those students. You are a God of love and you command us to love one another and not to murder.  Yesterday was Valentine’s Day. You gave us the most wonderful Valentine of all through your Son. God you sent us Jesus to give your life for us. Not to hurt us, but to save us.

We ask God that you will send your Spirit into the lives of those who are hurting. We ask that you bless each and every person here. Wrap your arms around those who have lost a family member. We bless you because you are our comfort in times of trouble. We thank you that you will always be with us. We also thank you for our family at Eureka College who have come together to support one another. We will now take a moment of silence remembering all those who have been hurt.

In Christ’s name I pray,

Amen

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