Community Corner

The Connecticut Shootings Shock Roseville Religious Leaders

Is your church holding a prayer vigil? Let us know in the comments below.

Religious leaders in Roseville are raising up prayers and condolences to the victims and familes of the Connecticut elementary school shootings with one pastor calling the massacre "senseless evil."

On Saturday morning, North Heights Lutheran Church held a prayer vigil for the people of Newtown, Connecticut. About 45 people attended, according to Senior Pastor Per Nilsen.

"As Christians we join together in crying out to the Lord for His intervention,"  Nilsen said on North Heights' Facebook page. "We cry out to the Lord for His strength. We cry out to the Lord for His mercy. We cry out to the Lord for His healing. We cry out to the Lord to bring an end to the violence that has gripped our land."

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Meanwhile, Grace Church Roseville Pastor Jason Stonehouse said he "sat speechless and horrified "when he first learned of the shootings and what he called "senseless evil."  On the church's website, Pastor Jason Stonehouse wrote:

"I have 3 little girls, two of them in a local elementary school and so my mind immediately goes to how horrified and utterly broken these parents and families must be," Stonehouse said in a blog post on his church's web site. "And yes, I watch as debates rage over different policies, legislation – much of which flows from heavy hearts who want justice and want to somehow prevent anything like this from ever happening again. I get that, but I think this tragedy begs even deeper questions and reveals something more primal and real.

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"First of all, it calls us to care. What many need now is not promises of tighter laws and a stronger hand," Stonehouse said. "They need comfort, care and to know that even though everything around us is all wrong… we love, we care and we cry with you."

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