Starting around 3 pm, my Facebook newsfeed was plagued with the news of what happened today in Boston. As I sit here and try to reconcile the events of today with my understanding of theodicy, I keep coming back to the same three words: Let it be.
I've tried to imagine how I could explain this to children... How do you explain that someone or a group of people had the intention of purposely harming a large group of people through a violent and painful act? How do you explain that hundreds, even thousands of people will have their lives forever changed by this event whether it be through injury, death, loss of a loved one, or even witnessing the event itself?
As I trek through these thoughts, I do so while reading my assigned text for my preaching class tomorrow: "Telling the Truth About Life and Death: Preaching at Funerals." I made it through the majority of the text without many tears until I came to the appendix: "Appendix: Difficult Funerals." I got to the section about children's funerals and that was the end of being able to visibly see my computer screen. "The sturdy and confident language of the Gospel, spoken at every Christian funeral, is the best and most redemptive form of ministry." This sentence struck me. I have confidence in Gospel yet in times of deep tragedy such as this one, how do we explain it?
Going back to the scenario of attempting to explain this to children, I come back to the same response... maybe the people who are responsible for this did not understand how much God loved them and I have no doubt that God indeed loves all of us -- no matter how broken, lost, weary, or separated we may feel. I almost imagine that God's heart is breaking right now too. I imagine that God is holding the hands of those in Boston and in between wiping away their tears, God has tears that need to be wiped away too.
In these times of deep tragedy and implicit sorrow, we must remember to seek out the good... to seek out the Holy... to seek out evidence of the unity and compassion that we know is threaded throughout our world. And when our words seem inadequate our souls become weak, we must rely on the sturdy & confident language of the Gospel -- the Gospel of tangible hope, reviving compassion, unfailing love, and fulfilled promises of peace.
Let it be. Let it be. Let it be. Let it be. Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.
I've tried to imagine how I could explain this to children... How do you explain that someone or a group of people had the intention of purposely harming a large group of people through a violent and painful act? How do you explain that hundreds, even thousands of people will have their lives forever changed by this event whether it be through injury, death, loss of a loved one, or even witnessing the event itself?
As I trek through these thoughts, I do so while reading my assigned text for my preaching class tomorrow: "Telling the Truth About Life and Death: Preaching at Funerals." I made it through the majority of the text without many tears until I came to the appendix: "Appendix: Difficult Funerals." I got to the section about children's funerals and that was the end of being able to visibly see my computer screen. "The sturdy and confident language of the Gospel, spoken at every Christian funeral, is the best and most redemptive form of ministry." This sentence struck me. I have confidence in Gospel yet in times of deep tragedy such as this one, how do we explain it?
Going back to the scenario of attempting to explain this to children, I come back to the same response... maybe the people who are responsible for this did not understand how much God loved them and I have no doubt that God indeed loves all of us -- no matter how broken, lost, weary, or separated we may feel. I almost imagine that God's heart is breaking right now too. I imagine that God is holding the hands of those in Boston and in between wiping away their tears, God has tears that need to be wiped away too.
In these times of deep tragedy and implicit sorrow, we must remember to seek out the good... to seek out the Holy... to seek out evidence of the unity and compassion that we know is threaded throughout our world. And when our words seem inadequate our souls become weak, we must rely on the sturdy & confident language of the Gospel -- the Gospel of tangible hope, reviving compassion, unfailing love, and fulfilled promises of peace.
Let it be. Let it be. Let it be. Let it be. Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.
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