Dear Friends in Christ –
Words fail as yet another mass shooting claims the lives of innocents. Woe to us if we become inured, accustomed, accepting of continuing carnage. Yes, we will grieve with those who grieve. We will pray. We will search our hearts and question the resolve of ours and others as well as the children quite rightly state, “We are children, you are the adults...” Implicit in that statement is a plea that surely there is something that can be done, so that more and more children and teachers’ and sisters’ and brothers’ lives aren’t snuffed in fits of rage or madness.
Just because we don’t know the answer now, does not mean that there isn’t one.
As people of the Word and of faith, we look to and lean into scripture. It is neither our calling nor our task to be absent nor silent as violence becomes commonplace. Should we not speak we become complicit.
This Sunday, the first Sunday of Lent, we begin a series of sermons on Ephesians 6:10-19 – The Armor of God. In a different time one might have regarded this passage as archaic – “hopelessly first century, male-oriented, warrior mentality, apocalyptic hyperbole.” But in these times attention must be paid. Until we celebrate the victory of Christ’s resurrection, we will walk with him putting on the armor as it is offered.
This Sunday we fasten the Belt of Truth. Yours? Mine? The only one that matters – God’s Truth.
See you in worship -
