There are no easy answers for what happened this past week in Newtown, Conn. To gun down innocent children in their classrooms at their school should not happen. But because it did, there is only one place we can turn, and that is to God. Yes, already people ask, "Where was God?" and use this as an excuse for unbelief. Not knowing the depth and power of Scripture, these are those who know not to turn to God's Word for comfort and hope in the face of tragic loss. This is the time of year we read but do not hear the cries of those mothers whose sons were murdered by Herod in his search to find and kill the baby Jesus. (read Matthew 2:16-18). It was precisely for that sort of evil that God intervened in history by sending His only begotten Son. Jesus would die to pay the price of our sinfulness. But before His death taught us a new, different way to live, a fullness and abundance of life (John 10:10).
It was several years ago, that the son of Rev. William Sloan Coffin, then pastor of Riverside Church in New York City, got drunk and drove his car off a pier and drowned. Rev. Coffin shared how at the funeral one of his well-meaning church members said, "It was God's will..." He replied, "No, it was not God's will that my son drink and then drive; but God's heart was the first to break." The search and gift of free will since the creation of time, has both helped and hurt people; it's brought new ways to sustain life as well as new ways to take life away. We, as believers in the Most High God, must live our lives in ways that show Jesus' way to live, and when presented with situations like this join in the mourning but also in the comforting. I'll never forget a conversation I had with a seminary brother who was doing a CPE at Parkland Hospital in Dallas. He was on duty as the ER chaplain when the wife of a minister had come in from a suicide attempt. She died of a self-inflcited gunshot wound. He was the closest to the pastor when told that efforts to save her life had failed. My friend said all he could do was to hug the man and cry with him.
I had never read the above passage in this modern paraphrase and I thought as I was looking it up that I would not like it, but it spoke to me. Paul's words about his belief about life and death are still as true as when he faced his own death; "They kill us in cold blood because they hate you. We're sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one. None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing - nothing living or death...absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us." (vss. 36-39). And last night I walked in late to Mr. Don Piper's presentation at First UMC in Corpus Christi. Don is the man who died and spent 90 minutes in heaven (the title of his book). He spoke of seeing those who had brought him to Christ who greeted him at the gate. His grandfather and next-door neighbor were among the first. Don said they were now perfect unlike they had been on earth. His grandpa had lost several fingers on both hands during the war as he built battleships in Beaumont, TX, but in heaven he was perfect. A man with no teeth at the time of his death now had a beautiful smile. Don says he did not want to leave that place and came back to several years of pain in his recovery, but understand now it was to help others who had come through that same sort of suffering.
May our lives be those to whom people can turn and find a ready shoulder and embrace that comforts; may our prayers also bring comfort to those whose lives will never be the same again.
PRAYER: Loving God, Your heart broke on that night when mothers and fathers wept in Ramah. Your heart broke this week after those children and teachers were gunned down. Comfort and be with those mothers, fathers, grandparents, friends and neighbors who are crying uncontrollably because of it. Let us bring comfort where we may. We pray in Christ Jesus' precious name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord.
Eradio Valverde
