It is impossible in our media-saturated world to sit here today and not be aware of the school shooting in Connecticut on Friday. I had been outside much of the day, away from media – no phone, no television, no internet – but when I returned to those items of American privilege I couldn’t avoid the headlines.
Maybe this is good
Maybe we need to dwell in the midst of all that is going on in the world around us
Maybe not
I sit here now, after having a few days to process the news stories, the Facebook writings, the conversations that people are having and I frankly have no more answers than I did on Friday when I first heard the terrible news. This song rings in my head.
A few words have come to mind
Longing
Broken
Confused
Questioning
Helpless
Here I Stand
Horrified
Hopeful
Prayer
I’m not sure what to make of those words. At the same time, I could write pages on each of those words. In this “blog” world I could publish thousands of words as quickly as my fingers could type them and they could be sent out for all to read. But I’m not sure any of that really makes much difference.
It doesn’t change the facts.
Maybe it’s a part of processing the tragedies of life. Maybe it’s necessary to get these things off of one’s chest. And yet, there are untold tragedies that go unreported every day.
The child who is abused
The mother who is left homeless and jobless
The elderly man with dementia who asks the same question over and over again because he can’t remember that he already asked it or that someone answered it
The woman who lost her sight
The father whose doctor can’t diagnose his ailment
The baby born in the wrong part of the world
The hungry who beg for scraps of food
The wars that go on
And on
And on
And on
Artists work to express feelings and emotion about tragedies. I’ve been drawn for years to this song that seems to provide at least a little bit of comfort in the midst of questioning.
And here we are in the midst of Advent
A season of preparation
A season of longing
A season of questions
Why would God dare to come into an earth like this? A world filled with pain, hurt, deception, lies, and people who continue to turn their back on God? A friend of mine wrote a song that attempts an answer at such a question and yet our answers are at best imperfect.
What we need to understand is that we simply can’t understand.
God is bigger than all of the hurts. God is there listening to all of the questions. God is crying with us.
The same God who came down to earth, as a tiny baby, born in the most unlikely of places to the most unlikely parents, lived the most unlikely life and did the most unlikely thing – taking our place on the cross, defeating death, and rising to take us to heaven with him – is still here with us today.
We don’t have to like it
We don’t have to understand it
God is taking care of it
