Pastor Paul
“I am weary with my groaning; every night I drench my bed; I melt my couch in tears.”1
Nineteen children, three adults killed at Ross Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. I am transported back to my desk in Trumbull, CT when on December 14, 2012, eight miles to the north, twenty children and six adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
I am weary. These nine and ten-year-old children robbed of the opportunity to watch the sunset, marvel at a great book, the taste of an ice cream sundae, the excitement of flipping the tassel at graduation, walking the aisle to wed the love of their lives, to experience their childrens’ birth, the joy of singing and dancing and sampling all that makes life worthwhile. And the adults who will not be present for the significant events in the lives of those left behind. The loss is unutterable, the grief profound.
I am weary. In moments of intense emotion in the face of such evil, all my emotional and biological systems short-circuit in a state of temporary chaos and disorientation. Our ability to shed tears is something unique to humans. They bind us together. They remind us that we weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. At this moment all I can do is weep, sit with the numbness I feel and shed tears about which Augustine remarked: “The tears…streamed down, and I let them flow as freely as they would, making of them a pillow for my heart. On them it rested.”2
I utter an appeal to God : “Why don’t you do something.”
I am answered: “Why don’t YOU?”
1Psalm 6:7 (The Jewish Bible, Tanakh the Holy Scriptures, ©1985 Jewish Publication Society)
2Augustine, Confessions IX, 12
Nineteen children, three adults killed at Ross Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. I am transported back to my desk in Trumbull, CT when on December 14, 2012, eight miles to the north, twenty children and six adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
I am weary. These nine and ten-year-old children robbed of the opportunity to watch the sunset, marvel at a great book, the taste of an ice cream sundae, the excitement of flipping the tassel at graduation, walking the aisle to wed the love of their lives, to experience their childrens’ birth, the joy of singing and dancing and sampling all that makes life worthwhile. And the adults who will not be present for the significant events in the lives of those left behind. The loss is unutterable, the grief profound.
I am weary. In moments of intense emotion in the face of such evil, all my emotional and biological systems short-circuit in a state of temporary chaos and disorientation. Our ability to shed tears is something unique to humans. They bind us together. They remind us that we weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. At this moment all I can do is weep, sit with the numbness I feel and shed tears about which Augustine remarked: “The tears…streamed down, and I let them flow as freely as they would, making of them a pillow for my heart. On them it rested.”2
I utter an appeal to God : “Why don’t you do something.”
I am answered: “Why don’t YOU?”
1Psalm 6:7 (The Jewish Bible, Tanakh the Holy Scriptures, ©1985 Jewish Publication Society)
2Augustine, Confessions IX, 12