|
Hello St. John’s Family,
Jesus wept.
Upon seeing the pain and grief of a cherished family devastated by the death of their brother, Jesus is deeply troubled and moved to tears. Jesus’ soul is deeply disturbed; Lazarus was a beloved friend, and his family – Jesus’ dear friends – are inconsolable. In a moment full of the agony of loss, weeping accompanied by “if only you (the Lord) were here” are the only responses possible. I sense we can relate to this scene all too well after a week in which we saw young children terrified and shaken, fleeing in fear after gunfire and death shattered their innocent lives.
Here we are yet again, left with little more that weeping and pain as we see images of children clutching each other’s hands while hurriedly led in a line from a school or peering out of a school bus window with a face haunted by terror that was triggered by gunfire, lockdown, fear, and death. Words are not sufficient; weeping is the only response our traumatized souls can muster as images of our children, grandchildren, family members, and friends flash into our minds.
In moments like these our grief can feel suffocating. God seems so distant; prayers seem inadequate at best and are mocked as futile at worst. Yet Wade McGregor, an Elder at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Nashville who spoke at a vigil on Tuesday night, will affirm the necessity of our prayers. McGregor noted how, after a long time staring at a blank page while gathering his thoughts, the only words that came to him were pray for us.
Our prayers are what re-orient and connect us to God in the disordering moments of chaos and loss. Our prayers are what remind us that God’s Holy Spirit is there with us, every moment of every day. Our prayers are what connect us to each other as well, forming and bonding us as the living Body of Christ in the world: aching when others ache, rejoicing with the joy of others, and opening our hearts to God’s movement in the brokenness and mess such that hope will emerge. To be clear, prayer does not negate the need for God’s people to act as God leads – something that is sorely needed to confront our cycle of senseless violence. God-directed action will come. Yet at this moment we need to hold on to the assurance that our prayers are the conduit for hope and are desperately needed by a community reeling in this time of agony and loss. Prayer is “the first and most powerful thing we can do.”[1]
Please keep Covenant School, Covenant Presbyterian Church, and the Nashville community in your prayers as they grieve and process the horrific shooting this week, as well as all those who have experienced these horrors before and must now relive them.
This Sunday in worship, we’ll have the opportunity to enter Jerusalem with Christ Jesus as he approaches the culmination of His earthly ministry. We’ll see images of glory: both in praise and in agonizing pain, as we prepare to re-experience how God redefines glory in the conquering of death. I hope you’ll plan to join us as we begin Holy Week following in Christ’s footsteps, to Jerusalem and to Calvary.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Brad
[1] Nate Morrow, Head of Christ Presbyterian Academy, neighboring the Covenant School in Nashville TN.
| 
