Like everyone I know, all I can think to ask is … why? Why would a quiet and intelligent young man walk into an elementary school and murder 20 first graders? Why would he turn his gun on six more adults before taking his own life? What is it about our culture that this happens over and over and over again?
Columbine … Red Lake … Virginia Tech … and now Sandy Hook Elementary School have all experienced this madness. And schools, of course, are just one setting where these horrific events happen. It seems as if innocent people are routinely gunned down in shopping malls, theaters and in their workplaces.
I’m convinced that these shootings are seared into our memory because they are not only violent; they are random and therefore unpredictable. They could happen anywhere and at any time. School shootings connect to us because the children who die remind us of our own children and grandchildren.
Many Christians observe a season of Advent in the four weeks leading up to Christmas because we understand that we live in a violent, chaotic, selfish, and often uncaring world. We live in a world that often seems to be overwhelmed by darkness. As we come close to the birth of our Savior we are reminded once again that a light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it. What we proclaim to the world is that the darkness that hangs like a pall over Newtown, Connecticut is not the end of the story. God is with us. That is is the true and unmistakable story of Christmas.
Even into the unimaginable grief, and the heartache, and the pain, and the sense that life has been forever altered … a light shines. Not even the darkness of random and wanton violence can overwhelm God’s love. Behind the bright lights, and the carols, and the gifts lies the promise that God will continue to enter into this broken world in love.
What we so often miss in the hustle and bustle of this time of year is that we are called to live as God’s people even in the midst of all that is broken. We are to be the light that shines in the darkness. We are to be God’s voice. We are to be God’s hands. We are to be the living promise that God has made, the promise that no matter what happens, the brokenness of this world cannot overcome us.
Our calling is to live God’s kingdom, and when children are gunned down in their classrooms, or on inner city streets, or die in their mother’s arms from a lack of clean water or enough food to eat, we are to stand up and proclaim that enough is enough and begin the process of healing. God calls us to live right here, in the messiness and the decay and the disarray of this life so that others might be touched by our compassion and our love for one another.
In our grief and confusion we can’t help but cry out, “Where was God when Adam Lanza walked into that school and started shooting?” “Why didn’t God keep this horrific act from happening?” “What kind of a God is this?”
And the answer is this. God was there, as that deeply broken young man loaded his weapons and strapped on a bullet proof vest. And God was there as principal Hochsprung, and the teachers and the children began their school day. God was there.
But the darkness of sin is real, and it rips families and communities apart and manifests itself in violence and hatred. We are a fallen humanity, and out of our brokenness comes unbearable grief at the things we do to one another. It is into this broken and helpless world that we humbly celebrate the birth of Jesus.
And so, as Christmas approaches, we pray. We pray for the children in our community, that they might be kept safe from harm. We pray for the administrators and the teachers who watch over and protect them. We pray for the families who are grieving today and for the community that has no words to describe what has happened to them. And we pray for ourselves, that we might live the gospel and be the light that holds the darkness at bay.
Each month a member of the Cook County Ministerium will offer Spiritual Reflections. This month’s contributor is Pastor Tom Murray of Lutsen and Zion Lutheran Churches.
Leave a Reply