When you last read words from me, I was scrambling to say something about the tragedy in Aurora, CO. I didn't go to church this Sunday (gasp!) because I was taking a friend to the train station instead (excuses!) but my parents told me that the guest preacher (our pastor is on vacation) did not mention the shooting -- at all. Not in his sermon, not in a single prayer.
This is unacceptable.
When 12 people are massacred on Thursday night, you'd better be talking about it on Sunday morning. We, the United States of America and we, the body of Christ, are all bleeding and broken because of this senseless act of terror and violence.
The world is unpredictable and scary sometimes, and church is supposed to be the place we go to heal from that. We can't heal from it if we're ignoring it.
It is particularly interesting to me that one of the ELCA's greatest preachers, Nadia Bolz-Weber, lives and preaches in Denver, CO and ministers to Aurora residents on a regular basis. Even if this tragedy had not befallen her community, I know her words on the subject would have been just the catharsis we seek; her proximity to the massacre is particularly poignant.
Here's a link to her sermon. I'd recommend listening to it, as opposed to just reading it. Following the sermon, you'll hear her congregation, House For All Sinners and Saints, singing. This is particularly important because her sermon tells us that we sing praises to our God in the face of disaster not to say that God or that we endorse the damage that has been done, but rather defiantly, "to put evil in its place...to draw a line and say here and no further."
And Nadia also preaches that in the face of evil, we weep. We weep for the loss of life in Aurora this week. We can weep because we are the "bearers of the resurrection," she says. A light shines in the darkness, and the darkness shall not overcome it.
Just listen to it. And weep.
This is unacceptable.
When 12 people are massacred on Thursday night, you'd better be talking about it on Sunday morning. We, the United States of America and we, the body of Christ, are all bleeding and broken because of this senseless act of terror and violence.
The world is unpredictable and scary sometimes, and church is supposed to be the place we go to heal from that. We can't heal from it if we're ignoring it.
It is particularly interesting to me that one of the ELCA's greatest preachers, Nadia Bolz-Weber, lives and preaches in Denver, CO and ministers to Aurora residents on a regular basis. Even if this tragedy had not befallen her community, I know her words on the subject would have been just the catharsis we seek; her proximity to the massacre is particularly poignant.
Here's a link to her sermon. I'd recommend listening to it, as opposed to just reading it. Following the sermon, you'll hear her congregation, House For All Sinners and Saints, singing. This is particularly important because her sermon tells us that we sing praises to our God in the face of disaster not to say that God or that we endorse the damage that has been done, but rather defiantly, "to put evil in its place...to draw a line and say here and no further."
And Nadia also preaches that in the face of evil, we weep. We weep for the loss of life in Aurora this week. We can weep because we are the "bearers of the resurrection," she says. A light shines in the darkness, and the darkness shall not overcome it.
Just listen to it. And weep.