Coming Alongside

Given the recent news of late, it’s hard to imagine anything will be very ‘holly and jolly’ this Christmas for residents of Newtown, Connecticut. The effects of this tragedy touch us all and we try hard to make sense of something that makes no sense. Sometimes acquiring understanding helps us through heartbreak but sometimes there is nothing for it but to bear it and share it. And cry.

We like to look for heros in the rubble of tragedy but for me, that doesn’t help. It somehow diminishes the importance of the ordinary, precious ones who were caught off-guard, and literally did not have the extra seconds it takes to make any kind of heroic decisions. Their lives are still valuable and worthwhile and the loss of them is equally mourned.

I remember watching the memorial service post-9/11 at a famous church in Washington, DC where Billy Graham gave the eulogy. His words went something like this, “In view of my faith in Christ, I have never reached a satisying conclusion as to why bad things happen to good people.” I felt myself nodding in agreement. I remember thinking in response to my own faith in Christ, “I do know He is with us, He is still God and His grace is enough.” Therein lies the hope of the thing.

I join with the myriad of other pray-ers on our continent and implore God, our loving and merciful Father, for comfort, healing and peace during a time of unimaginable sorrow and grief for the loved ones of the victims of Sandy Hook Elementary.

“God comes alongside us when we are going through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us.” II Corinthians 1:4

Bless those, also, who come alongside.