US President Barrack Obama concluded his emotional address following the Newtown school shooting with words of scripture, invoking God to 'heal the broken-hearted and bind up their wounds'.
This reference to Psalm 147 was fitting. He was not so much delivering a speech to the nation as offering a lament on its behalf. It was one of his most presidential acts to date.
But such words are laden with responsibility. Broken hearts and open wounds demand a response. Obama acknowledged this when he declared, 'These neighbourhoods are our neighbourhoods, and these children are our children, and we're going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.'
Meaningful action. Obama will be judged not on his words, but on how his administration defines this term and then delivers it, in the face of no doubt vitriolic opposition. Otherwise there will be even more schools, street corners and plazas to add to the already lengthy list of public spaces where such gun massacres have occurred.
The pundits aren't optimistic. Paul McGeough criticised Obama's failure to initiate the national conversation that he himself called for after the Texas shooting that left six people dead and Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords seriously injured. Obama's call to 'challenge old assumptions' and to explore everything 'from the merits of gun safety laws to the adequacy of our mental health system' was followed by silence.
Perhaps Obama should revisit Psalm 147 in its entirety.
At first it seems ill-equipped for the task. God is praised as the One who 'makes peace in your borders'. Yet where is peace now? God has 'strengthened the bars of your gates, blessed your children within you'. Yet where were these godly gates when a man walked into an elementary school and started taking these blessings away?
Such questions do not have easy answers. But in fact what the Psalm offers is not answers, but a question. It asks us who or what is the guarantor of our freedom and prosperity?
For many Americans the answer is twofold: themselves and their guns.
There is a certain logic to this. US gun law has its roots in resistance to British gun restrictions. Also the militia groups that helped win independence from the British were citizens defined by