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There are no words to rightly honor the martyrs of Charleston.  Their witness is beyond articulation, and our witness of their faith may be expressed only in gap-mouthed prayer.  This violence is exceptional and nauseating, but it’s also disappointingly banal–families are broken, people are shot, evil runs free every day.

We return again and again to the foot of the cross, unable to make sense of the darkness; we huddle together in the shadow of God’s cross-shaped love, praying in the words we have been given by God himself.

Below are the hauntingly fitting readings appointed for June 18, the feast of Bernard Mizeki, Bible teacher and martyr of Rhodesia from 1896.

Revelation 7:13-17

Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?” I said to him, “Sir, you are the one that knows.” Then he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

For this reason they are before the throne of God,

and worship him day and night within his temple,

and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them.

They will hunger no more, and thirst no more;

the sun will not strike them,

nor any scorching heat;

for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd,

and he will guide them to springs of the water of life,

and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Luke 12:2-12

Jesus said to his disciples, “Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops.

“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

“And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God; but whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God. And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how you are to defend yourselves or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought to say.”

If you’re local to Columbia, feel free to come to the Cathedral (Sumter & Gervais) to pray anytime today; Evening Prayers will be offered there, led by our Bishop, at 5:30pm.