Reflections on faith in the face of tragedy

The slaughter of thirty students and two professors on the lovely historic Virginia Tech Campus is horrific. Pray for the souls of the departed and their families and friends. God grant them his powerful loving abiding presence now and into eternal rest. Amen!

Such sudden tragic senseless loss as the slaughter at Virginia Tech is particularly sharp, painful, deep and shocking. Our very natural reaction, as God made us human, is anger, grief and wanting to blame and lash back at something or someone. Why did this happen? Who should have done something to prevent this? Why did God let this happen? Our heart felt questions spew out of our mouths, but will the answers ,if we are able to find them, really address the pain and loss? Not really. Eventually after investigations we will know more answers to these and other questions. Details will be provided. But, the stark reality of tragic, cruel senseless slaughter and loss will not change. The bottom line is that we modern men and women and youth and children are still vulnerable to the ravages of disease, death and destruction, as has been every human being since creation. Ultimately, none of us will get out of this life on earth alive!

Faith makes the difference for us that believe in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God loves us so much that he gives us humans free will. Made in his image we each can make choices. We can see in life and death the marks and way of Christ Jesus, or we can see in life and death a purely human struggle to control and understand it all. We may, by grace, get glimpses of understanding along the way. And, God does entrust us with stewardship and control of many parts of life and his creation. The big picture, however, is that we walk by faith. Our lives are a gift. We are blessed to belong to His Living Body which gives us the love and power to be God's people. When bad things happen, as they will in each of our lives, we have the healing power and free gift of God's Love in Christ Jesus to guide us. Eventually we time and again see that Jesus enables us to bring good even out of the bad that happens in our lives. It is the resurrection happening again and again in our midst.

Pray for the lives destroyed and trampled by the savage act of shootings at Virginia Teach. Pray for the Resurrection of lives that we know does happen through faith in Jesus Christ. As we learn more of the details and blame is passed around, continue to pray for the grace to see in our own lives where we can be agents of the New Life. Jesus has already won the victory over sin and death. We are called to live our lives in His New Life. Our lives are vulnerable in this world, but we of faith are part of the unshakable Kingdom of God. Jesus makes a huge difference! Alleluia! He is Risen Indeed!