After Aurora

         (From my sermon Sunday)

       There are times when the events that happen outside of our community have the ability to affect us deeply, especially when they are as tragic as the shooting early Friday morning in Aurora, Colorado.  The violence and evil shock us and we are left to try and make sense of the chaos.  We are left with questions.

        For some of those questions, there are armies of people already working to find the answers.  This kind of disaster is also a crime scene and there are many kinds of law enforcement people doing their tasks to investigate, search out and catalogue all the bits and pieces that are the evidence.

        The media is also searching for answers but in today’s world, that search is more like an unorganized competition where getting an answer first sometimes seems more important than getting it validated. They cluster around the scene trying to get as close as they can to victims and their families and friends as well as hounding anyone who knows or has had contact with the one did it.

        With all these people working, we soon know what happened, where and when, and then we start knowing whom.  The investigators are piecing together the answers to how it happened.  But there is one question left, the big one.

        Why?

        It’s a huge question because it encompasses so much.

Why did the shooter do it?  Why this theater, this movie?  Victims and families ask, why did this person live and this person die?

        We confront God with the biggest question: Why, God?  Why do you allow this happen?

        Soon, someone somewhere will say that this is all God’s punishment for our godlessness or whatever sin is their pet peeve.  It happened after Oklahoma City, it happened after 9/11, and after hurricane Katrina.  It’s not the Gospel that Jesus teaches, but some people seem to find pleasure in using tragedy to judge others.

        Such messages can be attractive because they seem to give an answer to that biggest question.  There is a reason that this happened and we are reassured that God is in control.  It is the same kind of comfort that people try to give when someone we love has died.  There is a reason.  God is in control.

        If we can blame someone or something, even God, then we are closer to making sure it doesn’t happen to us.  We like things to have a reason.  It lessens the chaos and confusion in our lives.

        In Mark 6: 30-34, Jesus tries to take the disciples and himself away for rest from their work, but the people see where they are going and by the time the boat gets to the deserted place, a great crowd of people are already there, waiting for Jesus.

        They are overwhelmed by the chaos in their lives, things they have no answers for and no control over.  They need help, they need answers, and they need love.  And Jesus has compassion for them.  He sees they are like sheep without a shepherd – meaning they have no one looking out for them, caring for them, keeping them safe.  So Jesus begins to teach and heal them.

        Jesus sees all these people who have followed them with all their needs and questions, and reaches out.  He looks on them with love and becomes their shepherd.

        They have followed him out into the wilderness probably without a lot of preparation or thought to simple things like where and how will they eat or find water.  In fact, in the verses following these, Jesus feeds them all, more than 5,000, with a small boy's lunch.  They have come with needs and Jesus cares for them.

        If only Jesus were here today, right?  Wouldn’t that make things easier?  Doesn’t this last week just make you wish you could be in that crowd with Jesus?  We need Jesus too!

        And Jesus is here, right here, with us today, right now, in this place, with us and in us.  We are not alone.  And he is here, teaching us too, giving us his answers, and giving us hope.

        Jesus looks at us, with all our questions and doubts, with all our faults and failings, our shortcomings, and our stubbornness, and holds us in love.  It is here.  For you!  Right now.  And that is as true and real as it gets.  Jesus is here in love – for you.

        But even when we don't have answers, we do have hope.  For no matter what is happening around us, we have the promise and hope that we are held in God’s love.  And there is nothing strong enough, or evil enough, or big enough, or bad enough to separate us from that love.  Nothing.  Not lone gunmen, or terrorists, or evil plots, or wars, or diseases, or the chaos of our lives.

        God is here.  God is with you and stays with you.  God goes with you in love, whereever you go.  And God loves you, forgives you, and gives you peace, even when we can’t know or understand the whys of what happens around us.  God's love outlasts and outbests everything.  Read Romans 8: 35-39.

What's Love Got To Do With It?

       It's hot out today, even up here in the Red River Valley.  Although I have to admit that we are often twenty degrees cooler than down south.  It still feels hot.
       It's the common opening topic of conversation this time of year: how hot it is, how humid, how dry, or did you get rain and if you got rain, how much did you get.  You can almost always count on weather as something to talk about without getting controversial but talk about the weather in person or on the news seems to carry an extra edge of urgency this summer.
       It goes along with all the reports of drought contrasting with heavy rains causing floods.  There are wild fires burning for miles and miles in several states while crops are dying in the fields in other places.  Spring came early this year and farmers planted early and now watch and wait and worry.  It's the kind of year that causes worry, especially since it was announced that this last year is the warmest year on record for the United States.
       Is it global warming? Is it climate change caused by human activity or just a phase the earth is going through?  This conversation is when the non-controversial topic of weather gets scientific, political and even theological.
       It's good and necessary conversation but in terms of practice of how we are to live, it's not the point.  How we live in caring for creation is a matter of faithful living and so we don't need to wait for the answers before we know how to act.  I don't pray because the presence of God or the power of prayer have been proven, I pray out of faith.
       So what does faith have to do with the weather?
       Followers of Jesus are given the command to love one another, that we will be known by how we love one another.
       When water is scarce, I can show my love by being careful not to waste water or to use too much.  I know that when it's so hot and the heat holds in pollution that even timing when I put gas in the car can make a difference.  The same kinds of things can be said about energy use such as replacing light bulbs and watching my thermostat and using old technology like using shades and curtains to keep the hot sun out of the house during the day.  By saving all my errands and organizing them into one trip, I save energy as well as money.
       In some ways I think of it like considerate backpacking, trying to make as little impact on the earth where I have been as possible.  I believe that Christ-like love impels us to care for creation instead of selfishly using it up with no regard for others or for the wonders God has created.
       The scientific/political/theological conversations need to happen and we need to listen to each other and take part in them but for me, the meaning is made real in the relational.  Faith calls us to live in relationship with God, people, and the world around us.
       My younger sister has been recycling and remodeling her house with these things in mind for years.  She takes seriously the relationship between everyday tasks and how they affect others.  Her shorthand for this is: "Save the polar bears".  Because they are so endangered by rising and melting seas and loss of habitat, it's her gentle reminder to be aware of your choices such as whether or not you remember to recycle or turn something off.
       When we were tots, we were taught to pick up our toys and put them away instead of leaving them for someone else.  Love pushes us to not only clean up after ourselves but also to reach out beyond ourselves.  This summer's heat and disasters are opportunities for us to put our faith and love into action.  Read 1 John 3:16-18.