Another School Shooting: What Do We Say? What Can We Learn?

 

(Photo from Bela Kiefer - FreeDigitalPhotos.net) 

I can recall where I was when I heard about the Columbine shooting many years ago.  I can recall where I was when I once said to a group of college students that the Columbine shooting was a watershed moment in our generation's collective psyche.  But the reality is that there have been so many shootings like this in recent years that I can't keep track of them all.

It's the understood role of all the media to share information with the public, and when situations like this occur, they not only pass on the details, but they offer us analysis and reflections.  If I may do so humbly, I feel that in a moment like this, it's imperative that someone share a Christian perspective.  Here are my thoughts - take them for any good they might offer.

1. We must mourn with those who mourn.  Romans 12:15 tells us to do just that.  I heard Dr. Timothy Keller say the other day that the job of the Christian in moments like this is to listen and to speak when spoken to.  I also think it is the job of the Christian to weep with and pray for those who suffer so deeply in situations like this.  I sat staring at my computer screen for quite some time before I began to write this post because I didn't want to be 'that person' who is offering advice and direction (i.e. "What you need to understand is that...") when all that is needed is presence.  God, grant me the grace to share just barely enough to encourage those who need it today.

2. We must ask questions and not seek trite answers.  In the aftermath of these tragedies, many will post things on the blessed/cursed reality known as Facebook, posts like, "And people say we DON'T need gun control" or "IF there was a person with a gun in this school, we could have stopped this killer" or "This is what happens when you take prayer out of schools."  There may be truth in many of the statements that you read, but we are wise to speak only after much prayer, thought, and research, because the responses that often cause more harm are those that essentialize and  minimize all the dynamics of such a situation.  We must look past the sound-byte culture in which we live and dig into the hows and whys of this shooting, but let us not think that answers some in some quick, downloadable form - they will not.

3. We must offer grace.  We must offer grace to those who are angry, for there is, in the heart of every human, some form of a God-given desire for justice.  We must offer grace to those who are grieving, because they are in need of supernatural care.  We must offer grace to all who speak out about this day even when they say things that seem innane or inaccurate - very few see clearly in the fog of war, in the immediate aftermath of a tragedy.

4. We must ask for help from God to trust that He is not distant from or callous toward suffering.  Psalm 34:18 tells us that God is near the brokenhearted.  These are moments when people sometimes choose to abandon God.  The clear and even understandable response to a tragedy like what happened in Connecticut today is, "I cannot believe  in a God that could allow this kind of evil."  Many Christians jump back at such a comment, and then follow up with a barrage of apologetic reasons why we can believe in God.  There is certainly a place for apologetics, but if I may - in the immediate aftermath - the only response I dare offer is this: Somehow, God understands our suffering and weeps with us.  Somehow God can bring hope from death.  The Cross is the example I see, and to the Cross I cling in moments like these.

- tC