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 their ownership of guns and willingness to use them.
Yet even taking into account the wide difference between the late 18th century and our own era, not to mention the intervening developments in firearms that allow such small things to wreak such terrible havoc, this mistakes the relationship between guns and freedom. The guns get too much credit, and the patriots too little.
People with good guns don't give you freedom — any tinpot dictator can hand out firearms. Rather good people armed with citizenship do.
In the same time that America has had lax gun laws the nation has stumbled into two disastrous wars, tanked the economy thereby igniting a global financial crisis, and skidded into political gridlock. All these forces have curtailed American freedom and hurt prosperity.
Yet in a slightly earlier era during the civil rights movement, freedom was enlarged and the realisation of the Declaration of Independence 'that all men are created equal' was advanced, all by unarmed citizens.
Indeed which two outcomes would produce more freedom: if every American bought a gun and joined the NRA or if every American took their citizenship seriously and contributed meaningfully to public life?
This is not to argue for a world without guns, per se. But it is an invitation for Americans to reconsider the reflexive connection between freedom and guns that makes introducing any meaningful gun reform so difficult.
This view is consonant with Psalm 147. There is an underlying scepticism of martial prowess in the Psalm, for God 'takes no delight in the strength of horses, no pleasure in the runner's stride'.
Obama's road will not be easy. However as a second term president he is unencumbered by the need to seek re-election. He can afford to upset the powerful. I hope before he does he rereads Psalm 147 and is emboldened by having a God 'who numbers the stars and gives to all of them their names' to call upon.
I also hope he is inspired by the psalmist's vision of a God who is defined by generosity and seeks to emulate this in his leadership; that he empowers his fellow citizens rather than merely arms them.
Not because I think Obama is particularly devout, but rather because surmounting the legislative and societal hurdles to achieve 'meaningful action' will be little short of miraculous. And because of how unutterably sad it will be for future victims if 'meaningful action' turns out to be weasel words for no action at all.
Evan Ellis is a community development worker in the Sutherland and St George area of Sydney. He is completing a masters in international studies with a China major. He won the 2012 Margaret Dooley Award for Young Writers for his essay 'Catholic and Aboriginal 'listening revolutions'.