I started a post yesterday and got a little bit into it before I gave
up. Something just wasn't sitting right
with me. To be honest, I've not spent a
significant amount of time watching the news to hear the latest about the
situation in Newtown, Connecticut. I
grew up not too far from there, so it's certainly a situation that is close to
my heart, but other than continually reading the names of the victims, reading
more and more people wax eloquent with their political views doesn't
necessarily put me in a great mood.
Things are broken and we want them to be fixed. The problem is that rather than find out how
to fix them, we think that we need to somehow figure out who broke them to
begin with. Do you know who broke
them? We all did.
Some people within the church will say that throwing God out of the school
caused this. Some, like the people from
Westboro Baptist Church, think that it's because Connecticut legalized gay
marriage. I honestly think that these
viewpoints reflect a fairly limited view of God.
When Solomon was preparing to build the Temple of the Lord in 2
Chronicles, he said, "But who is able to build a temple
for him, since the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain him? Who
then am I to build a temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices
before him?" Do we really
think that we can restrict God's access to a place just because we
"forbid" prayer in schools. As
I've seen it written before, as long as there are still tests in schools, there
will still be prayer in schools.
While I have opinions about marriage, to think that a
sad and broken individual's evil choices were caused by a state's decision to
legalize gay marriage seems as ridiculous as thinking that Hurricane Katrina or
the tsunami in Asia were punishments from God on evil nations. Do we really serve a God who is simply out to
get everyone? Did He not send His Son,
the One whose birth we celebrate during this Advent season so that people might
be saved? The Bible says that He is not
willing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. While I don't believe that everyone will come
to repentance, there is a measure of rejection that is involved there, not
necessarily on the part of God but on the one who rejects Him.
Every time that I heard my kids' voices yesterday, I began to
cry. I cried for the families whose
Christmas would be a nightmare this year.
For all of the unopened presents under Christmas trees. For every empty bed that was abandoned way
too early. For every parent's empty
heart waiting to be filled with years and years of memories of birthdays, of
graduations, of wedding days, and so many more special days. I have a hard time believing that God caused
that.
Yet people will ask why God did not prevent it? A much trickier question, but a question
nonetheless. My best answer is this: I
don't know. Sure, you can look on
Facebook and see pictures of 20 little kids running on clouds into heaven, but
that doesn't really do the trick for me.
I'm not going to fool myself into thinking that somehow God needed those
26 people in Heaven more than their families needed them on earth. But answers are elusive and that's not
something that we as a society are accustomed to dealing with. We don't like unsolved mysteries, we don't
like things to be left unresolved, we want answers and we want them fast.
Somehow, I don't really think this whole thing is about guns and
stricter laws, but I am sure many will disagree with me. There's certainly something backwards in our
country when the people who make the most money generally do it with sneakers,
cleats, or a ball while those who make the least are the ones who are sacrificing
for their time and additional income to teach the next generation. Too bad we can't find a way to tax the
entertainment industry higher so that we could afford to focus some additional
funding and resources into our educational system. Maybe we could somehow decrease class sizes,
reduce teacher stress, provide them with additional resources, and actually let
them teach something besides how to successfully pass the standardized tests
that have become the educational holy grail for so many.
I can't change anyone else, but I can change me. I can influence my children. If they begin to show signs of instability, I
can choose to ignore it, or I can address it and deal with it. I can turn my back on the stigma that our
society has put on mental illness and choose to advocate for healthiness and
wholeness. For now, that's what I will
focus on, and at the same time, I will pray that the Shalom of which I read
about in the Bible would surround 26 families in Connecticut, families to whom
"Silent Night, Holy Night" will mean something very different this
year.
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