Within hours, hundreds responded to Schenck, president of Faith and Action of Washington, D.C., and asked him to take their prayers directly to the families of the young victims and gunman Charles Carl Roberts IV.
On Monday, Schenck will do just that.
Schenck will hand-deliver two blue-and-brown, leather three-ring binders filled with e-mailed prayers to the Amish community and one to Roberts’ family.
“We hope that the prayers will be a consolation, a comfort, and will demonstrate Christian love for our friends in Lancaster County,” Schenck said Wednesday. “We really are a family. These are notes from family members expressing their love.”
As of Wednesday, Schenck had received 525 e-mails of personal prayers and condolences from people across the country.
He said he expects to continue filling the binders with more e-mails, which are still coming.
Schenck visited the Amish families Oct. 3, the day after Roberts shot 10 girls inside West Nickel Mines School in Bart Township. Five girls died, and five were wounded.
A grandmother of one of the slain girls asked Schenck if he could print the prayers for her to read. She said she knew all the Amish families affected by the shooting would want to read them.
“The Ebersol family told me they were living by the prayers that were being offered to them,” Schenck said. “I thought that was a profound choice of words.”
Amos and Katie Ebersol lost their only daughter, 7-year-old Naomi Rose, in the school shooting.
Two bishops each will receive a binder that they can share with Amish families. The third binder will be given to Roberts’ family.
Schenck said he plans to deliver the binders quietly to respect the families.
He visited Lancaster after the school shooting because Faith and Action, a group that lobbies government on religious issues, has supporters and church relationships in the county, he said.
“I was impressed with how much resolution was taking place in the hearts and minds of the people I visited with,” Schenck said.
“I came to be a blessing, but I left with far more than I could have ever brought. It was life-changing to me.”
Like many people following the story worldwide, Schenck was amazed at how quickly the Amish families accepted the tragedy.
“Of course, there was an enormous amount of pain,” he said. “But even in that pain, they were finding answers and spiritual resolution in all of this agony.
“I think they were struggling to understand the will of God, how God could allow such a thing to take place. And yet none of them doubted there was a purpose in all of it.”
Schenck suggested to the Amish church leadership God may be using their community to teach others how to forgive one’s enemies.
The Amish, who shy away from public attention, seemed comforted by that theory, Schenck said.
The binders will be put together Monday morning at Good ‘N Plenty Restaurant in Smoketown.
This will be the first time the organization has ever compiled prayers for people dealing with a tragedy.
“The outpouring of love was extraordinary,” Schenck said. “Somehow, this touched people in a deeper way than 9/11 or Katrina, and I think the reason might be obvious. The Amish represent a condition of innocence that others perhaps do not.”
Also on Monday, Schenck will speak at the annual Lancaster County Faith and Action banquet at Good ‘N Plenty.
His speech, scheduled for 6:30 p.m., was planned more than a year ago.
Those interested in sending messages of support to the Amish and Roberts’ families through Faith and Action can e-mail the organization at info@faithandaction.org.
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