Thoughts on the Sandy Hook Massacre

Ginger and I were visiting her brother in Arroyo Grande last Friday when the horrendous slaying of the innocents occurred in Connecticut. We went to bed early that night and spent two tearful hours watching news reports. It is nearly impossible to imagine the grief that must grip that idyllic town. So many times—and even in my dreams that night—I made comparisons to Rogers Adventist School and the dedicated staff and close-knit families that live there. I couldn’t help but worry for their safety, as well. We spent years on our safety plan, but I doubt any school is prepared to do any more effective job of stopping a shooter than Sandy Hook was. While the loss of life would have been higher without the heroics of the teachers, it was still way too high.

I know many have posted thoughts of sadness or encouragement on Facebook and other media. But I want to record one strong impression this tragedy has left indelibly, I hope, on my mind and heart.

People wiser or closer to God than I will have to answer “Where is God at a time like that?” Sometimes His ways, at least to me, are inscrutable. Perhaps they actually always are. Maybe when we think we have things figured out, it’s just a lucky guess. Or perhaps when it seems like God is in His heaven and all is good in our corner of the earth, we are simply blissfully ignorant of the cries of pain, loneliness, and despair that He hears constantly ascending. I don’t know.

But what stays with me is the thought that maybe today God can only be present on earth through His incarnation in His children… of which I am one. Satan, too, is present in the twisted wrecks he has made of the souls of the ones he has tormented.

The Babe of Bethlehem did not say He would send us a Holy Security Guard, but a Counselor. And maybe as we become therapeutic for those around us, we are incarnating the very Being who longs to calm our beating hearts and to bind our bleeding wounds.

What if the apocalypse is really about a time when the image of God has disappeared from His creation? A time when hope and holiness have been traded for cheap thrills, uncontrolled appetites, and desperate, selfish pursuits? What if God’s Spirit stays in this world only through the responsiveness of each of His attentive children?

If God can glimmer into this life only through the reflection borne on our faces, then I want my life to be fully turned towards Him. I want my face to be unveiled and as clear and bright as possible. “Lord, as evil comes from the hands of tormented humanity, so let holiness and hope find a field command post in my life.”