Rejoice? After Sandy Hook?

It has been a week of mixed emotions as we prepare for Christmas.  There is a heavy sadness that hangs over our nation at the atrocious violence in Newtown, CT.  All week I have seen tributes and prayers for the families who have had their lives torn apart by what now seems to be a cold calculated killer.  Alas, that anyone should face such days!  At the same time several families in our congregation are dealing with the loss of loved ones ranging in age from newborn to nonagenarian.  There is so much sadness in this life! 

These days before Christmas are usually seen as days of celebrations and delight.  We resonate with the first half of Paul’s words in Romans 12:15, “Rejoice with those who rejoice!” as we bake cookies, read Christmas stories, watch movies, go caroling, and the like.  However, this week we have also been confronted with the last half of Paul’s message in Romans 12:15, “Weep with those who weep.” 

Such sorrow and sadness in our world confirms the suspicion that all is not as it should be.  Indeed, Jesus confronts us with the truth that our world is broken, held hostage, and in rebellion against the God who made it to be good. 

How, then, do we respond to such awful events?  Lately, I have found myself constantly thinking for political solutions to problems like these, wondering why all these shooters are white males between the ages of 14 and 25, and feeling agitated, bothered, distracted, and upset.  I feel the pull to respond to the tragedies we have faced this month as the world would respond to them.  I need to learn to be in the world while not being of it. 

When we are in the world but not of it, we will certainly grieve over such injustice, but there will be peace for God is still God and we trust Him to make all things right.  We may experience anger and frustration, but it will flow from love for those who are hurt or have been lost.  We will deliver the fruits of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control – to a world which lacks all these things. 

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not berating you or anyone if you’re feeling the weight of sorrow on your shoulders right now.  You’ll find no pie-in-the-sky, Polly Anna, proclamations of forced happiness or faked perfection here.  What I am saying is to take a good look at the baby in the manger and think about His life.  He dealt with reality and gave us hope.  He was crushed by sin’s consequence, but He also overcame it for us so we can live.  He could have stayed in heaven and avoided all the suffering and sorrow of our world, but because He loves us He became one of us, leaving the glory of His home for the brokenness of ours. 

Jesus gives us the ability to have a clear view of life.  We see the reality of evil.  We experience the presence of pain.  We do not gloss over these and pretend that they are aberrations in world that is basically good.  This is the way of a world that has fallen, been redeemed, and will be renewed, and the hope we have in Jesus is the Good News that will renew it.  We bear that hope and message into the world. 

Remember, as it says in Philippians 4:  The Lord is near!  Christmas shows that to us so clearly as Immanuel, whose name means, God with us, comes to us in the flesh.  He is at work, even when you cannot see or imagine how, and He loves you.  So we say, “Rejoice in the Lord!” in the face of all that would cause us to doubt His presence, love, and goodness for Jesus has won the victory. 

Questions to Ponder

-          What is the cause of all the woes of the world?

-          What did God do about it?

-          When have you wept with those who weep?  How can simply weeping with someone be a comfort to them? 

-          When have you rejoiced with those who rejoice? 

-          Seeing the events of the last week, what do you weep over?  What do you rejoice in? 

-          How can our belief in Humanity’s Fall into Sin and Jesus’ Atonement for Sin help us deal with evil in the world?