Dallas

Once again, violence has struck.  There is sniper fire in Dallas and 5 police officers are killed.  They were watching over what had been a peaceful demonstration of people gathered to speak out against violence.  I am at once shocked, heartbroken, and appalled.  I am reminded of what I wrote after the Paris attack.  I wrote that two impulses come to me.  One is the desire to make sense of what has happened and the other is to take some action.  The first impulse is an illusive goal.  There is no way you can make sense of a senseless act.  In the coming days, my feeling is that all the explanations will fall short.  As a person of faith, I believe the scriptures offer the best guidance.  The scriptures simply acknowledge that we live in a dark, broken, and sinful world where, tragically, terrible things can happen to good people.  My faith also allows me to face that truth and not be undone which brings me to my second impulse.

My second impulse is to take some meaningful action is response to what has happened.  Again, as a person of faith, I will pray, but I know that my prayers can feel as though they are just so many words spoken in the darkness.  What do my prayers do?  Certainly, they do not inform God of what is happening.  God is already grieving the loss and sorrow that has taken place and is standing by the families and friends of those officers and all who have lost loved ones to violence.  My prayer is not to alert God.  My prayer gives voice to my own sorrow, hurt, and outrage.  But more than a cry to the Holy One who listens and understands, my prayer is a declaration that the darkness will not win for I am a child of the light.  My prayer is an invitation to God to work through me in this broken world that the light might shine.  My prayer is an affirmation of my faith that "the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it."  On this day of sorrow, may the light shine!