There will be a community prayer service beginning at 6 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 17, at the Wawasee High School Auditorium in response to the recent tragedies in the Syracuse school and community. The whole Wawasee community is invited to come together for the prayer service.

“We recognize this is a difficult and sorrowful time for us as a local community,” writes Dave Winters, associate pastor of Vineyard Community Church, Syracuse, and on behalf of the Syracuse/Wawasee Ministers Association. “The purpose of prayer is to draw close to God and by doing so gain new strength, hope, healing and peace.”

Pastors, teachers and students will lead various parts of the prayer service. Prayers will be offered together specifically for hope, renewal, expressing grief, peace, and casting cares upon Jesus using such Bible passages as Psalm 23, Psalm 42, Matthew 11:28-30, and John 14:27.

Prayers will be offered for all who grieve, and for students, and for school administrators and teachers. The prayer service is being sponsored and organized by the Syracuse-Wawasee Area Ministers Association.