Fr. Wallace was scheduled to preach this morning, but I have chosen to preach today because of the tragedy that happened just two days ago in Newtown, Connecticut, right on the heels of the shooting at a mall in a suburb of Portland, Oregon. It’s not that Fr. Wallace couldn’t have spoken to this crisis, and done it eloquently, but I believe at a time like this you need to hear from your rector and I need to speak to you.
Our hearts are heavy in the wake of this national tragedy. Twenty-eight persons have died, twenty of them children between the ages of 5 and 10. This is a tragedy not only for those families and for that school and community, but also for our entire nation, and ultimately for the world. You can’t watch what has happened on television and not feel the pain of those families who have lost loved ones in a senseless act of violence. We are all connected to one another, and this tragedy brings that reality into sharp focus. As John Donne said, “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” The bell tolls for the victims and their families; it tolls for that troubled young man who did the killing and who killed himself; and it tolls for all of us.
When I first thought about how we should speak to this horrific event, I wondered if we should do something differently with this service. I finally decided to let the service stand as it is, for it proclaims the Gospel in its fullness as it is, and at a time like this, we need to proclaim the Gospel and we need with all our hearts to hear it. Sunday after Sunday we gather together. It’s a kind of holy habit. Sometimes the words we say and sing seem rather remote, and disconnected with our everyday lives. Sometimes it’s difficult to focus on the ultimate concerns that permeate our liturgy. But at a time like this, every word seems to speak loudly and clearly to our situation and to our hearts. How poignant today’s Collect is in light of this tragedy: “Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace speedily help and deliver us.” The Epistle for today speaks so strongly to our need: “Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
At a time like this, we must remember that the Gospel is, first of all, bad news. It is the news that something is drastically, tragically wrong with the people God has made. God has given us free will, and with that will we can choose good or ill; we can choose to love or to hate; we can choose to follow God or the devil. St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans tells us that “the wages of sin is death.” We know that, and most of the time we interpret that text in a metaphorical or a futuristic way, but it also has a literal reality. At the root of the massacre in Connecticut is human sin. This horrific act was not God’s will, but it sprang out of the will of a man consumed by sin.
We are all sinners, but the vast majority of sinners don’t end up killing innocent people. Yet, can we say that this killer is completely isolated in his sin? I can’t prove it, but it seems to me in my brief life of 60 plus years that we are becoming a more violent society. The things we watch on television and in the movies have become increasingly violent. Video games that young people play for hours on end, I understand, have become more and more violent. These things help to form character in subtle and not so subtle ways. Our public discourse is less and less tolerant between those who disagree. Even things like road rage seem to be on the rise. We are a violent society, and we Christians need to be doing what we can in our own spheres to be nonviolent in the way we live, and we need to be active in promoting nonviolent ways of living and relating.
And yet, the Gospel in the final analysis is Good News. It is the news that God chose to deal with human sin by entering humanity itself, by taking the flesh of the Virgin Mary his mother and becoming a human being in Jesus of Nazareth, and finally by dying on the cross as a sacrifice for that sin. He knew what it was to hunger; he experienced not only the joy of human friendship, but also the pain of betrayal; he knew what it was to suffer through no fault of his own; and he knows from his own experience what it is to die.
Where is God in this tragedy? Through Jesus, God knows as a human being what the victims’ families are going through. God is present, whether recognized or not, in every act of heroism, every kind and loving word or act, in the good will being expressed throughout this nation and beyond. Because of free will, this terrible act was allowed to happen, yet in its wake will be much good. That is where we find God.
Friday night our daughter called just to tell us she loves us. I imagine mothers and fathers all over this country hugged their children a little tighter that night. Use this tragedy to let God shine more clearly through your life. Express your love for one another; refrain from harsh and aggressive speech and actions; give thanks for the many blessings you receive daily through God’s providence. This is where God is to be found, not only in the light of this tragedy, but also in all of life.