Today
I found a news story that listed the names and showed the pictures of the 17
killed in the Parkland school shooting. I have watched the TV news and read
some newspaper reports of the tragedy; however, seeing the faces, reading a
paragraph about each of these teenagers and teachers, and now typing their
names, makes this more than a horrific news story. I know it is such a cliché
to say, “These were real people.” But I am gripped that 14 were teenagers, high
school kids with lives, friends and families: Alyssa, Nicholas, Martin, Jaime, Luke, Gina, Cara, Joaquin, Alaina,
Meadow, Helena, Alexander, Carmen and Peter. And teachers: Scott, Aaron and
Christopher.
As
a minister, I have presided over funeral services for teenagers who died
too soon. Just speaking as a pastor, few
things are as difficult as entering the pain of those families or in searching
for the right words in the midst of their shock and grief, not to mention the
right and healing words at the funeral. In those circumstances I remember the
Apostle Paul’s words to the Romans: “the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for
we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with
sighs too deep for words.” Romans 8: 26
Some
losses are too deep for words. Only sighs can be uttered. I imagine those sighs
today from the families of those teenagers and teachers…..and for the pastors
and rabbis who are walking beside them. Today I pray for them and hold them in
my heart. Those kids deserved better. These families deserve better. I pray
that congregations and God’s people will surround them with love and support.
Funeral services began over the weekend and will continue this week. Those
services are part of the important rituals that bind us, give closure and offer
healing and hope. My guess is that those families will find further healing and
hope when they believe that their loved ones did not die in vain…that something
good can come out of this. Along with my
prayer for these heartbroken families, I pray that God will lead us to find a
way to stop this madness….and that I will be listening.
