I haven’t been blogging for many months. Primarily because I have had nothing worth saying. Today I have something to say.
I will first confess that it takes a lot for a news story to get to me emotionally. In part because I am by default rather cynical and fatalistic. Nothing surprises me.
This shooting in Newtown, Connecticut today is hitting me harder than other horror stories that pass through my twitter feed. Maybe it’s because I have a son in an elementary school right now as I type. Maybe it’s because it seems fractionally worse to kill little children than it does to kill adults or even teenagers. (That may be a strange thing to say – but this is sending me spinning more than Columbine did.)
I have a lot of different kinds of friends. I count that as a blessing. I have a lot of right-leaning Evangelical friends. They have taken to Facebook offering prayers, bible verses and outrage. I’m good with that.
I have liberal Christian friends who jump to looking for a societal fix like gun control reform, etc. I get that too. (Sadly, it never takes long for my conservative and liberal Christian friends to fight over politics on an issue like this before we even have a body count.)
I also have plenty of atheist and agnostic friends. They are also outraged. They tend to speak of the need for love and justice. I get it. Some of them get upset at people of faith for praying, saying that God could have stopped it in the first place if he is even there. They think us naïve. Again…I get it. I have always been honest with my doubts about the whole God thing. But I say to them, let us process the way we process.
The words of Paul in Romans 12 have been pounding in my head like a throbbing migraine today. I can’t shake them. I tweeted them earlier today. I think all of us – Christians of all stripes, people of other faiths or no faith at all – I think maybe we can at least for today rally around this ancient Jewish rabbi turned Christian apostle’s simple statement:
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.
My hope is that all of my friends would take these words to heart today. This is how we move forward – together. In love. United against evil and clinging to the good. And honoring one another as we go, even if we are different. Because we are more the same than we are different. We all want love. We all want hope. If nothing else, a story of despair like this fuels the fire in my heart to continue telling stories of hope. I’m blessed to have a career that let’s me do that, but you can do it too. We all can – in a hundred different ways.
So what do we do now? After something like this?
We pray if we are able. But ultimately we love. It’s the only way out of this darkness.
I am excited to speak this weekend at the Vineyard after a long break. My topic assigned months ago was “simple love.”
Seems like what we all need…maybe me most of all.
Nicely said Joe and very sound advice. I too have a child in elementary school and it just breaks my heart to think of the pain all the parents are feeling right now.
I’m looking forward to hearing you speak this weekend.
I am with you Joe…..if someone had shown this young man some true love and concern we may not be grieving this great loss of human life and possibilities.
Thank you Joe.
Do you think one of the ways we can show love would be to listen? The whole two ears, one mouth thing. Everyone wants to be heard. Not many people will listen to others opinions.
YES! That is exactly what flooded my brain. So I posted a live version of U2′s “One.” And highlighted some of the great verses of this amazing song: “LOVE is a higher law. ONE love. ONE blood. LOVE is a temple. We get to carry each other, carry each other.” People need to somehow come to the realization that every thought and action needs to come from a place of love. That is the only way we are going to save ourselves and our planet. And right now everyone needs to turn off their TVs. The 24 hour news cycle was made for horrors like this. The shooter knew this. Watching only stresses your mind and body more. The executives are counting on high ratings. There’s a sickness right there. You will feel impotent watching. You can also expose yourself to secondary PTSD. It also doesn’t help anyone. If you want more information wait until next week, when the facts are in place and more reasoned commentary is available. The 15 minutes I saw, where two small children were interviewed made me vomit. That is not journalism. It is exploitation. And just a continuation of the sickness that brought us to this point to begin with. Don’t be a part of it. Hold your children close, play old fashioned games, play outside, anything grounded in a positive reality. Thank you Joe. You are inspiring!! Love to you.
thanks for your uplifting words at a time when we all as Americans feel so inadequate as to how to deal with this terrible tragedy and prevent anything like it in the future. Your words from Romans say it simply….Love and Devotion. I look forward to Sunday’s message, I have missed you on Sunday mornings.
Nicely put, Joe. I was checking msnbc.com during my prep, checking for current events to share with my class and stayed glued to the Internet feed imagining what I’d do, what I think I’d do, what I’d wish I’d have done should I have been there. This hit me hard. I have no answers, but your thoughts were put very succinctly (sp?). Thank you, Joe. Miss you in Vegas, buddy…
Simple love, hmmm. Sometimes things happen that are byond all words, I get it too Joe.
Joe, Said so well. It is love. Love means something different to many of us. For my college students, love is simply listening,understanding and acknowledging. Nothing more. Can we get beyond our technology and really listen,understand and love. We greet people meaninglessly today. With heads down in our iPhones, we walk by people today who need our help. I’m going to look at people, smile and let them know that I care.
This is a good word. Thank you for sharing it. The smoke had barely cleared before I had friends who were blaming this on the godless liberals who “took God out of the schools” and other others who were blaming “gun-loving Christians.”
I know that everyone processes tragedies differently (you put it very well), but I feel as you do. At least for a while we should try to unite in grief and sympathy. And in love.