A Presbyterian Leader blogpost by Marcia Clark Myers, Director Office of Vocation
My heart aches for the families of the victims in Connecticut. Little ones who should be enjoying Christmas parties instead of facing terror and death.
As a mother and grandmother of a sweet child about to enter kindergarten next fall, I find it strikes very close to home. And the news (blessing and curse of the information age) shows me beautiful children in Tucson and Aurora and China and Afghanistan and Syria – all murdered, young and innocent.
What does it mean to have a God who came as an infant into a world where little children are massacred?
When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:
‘A voice was heard in Ramah,
wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.’ (Matthew 2:16-18)
I want a fix-it God who will ride in like James Bond and do away with evil and protect the innocent!!!
How could God let this happen?
What does it mean to have a God who was born to a teenaged Mom and whose death caused her great pain? It means that our God understands suffering, has walked with us in this world filled with greed and hate, and violence and has not been immune. And God walks with us now “In the valley of the shadow of death”.
But I want a different ending!!!
Imagine a school bus drives up to where those grieving Connecticut parents are standing comforting each other. The doors slowly open and out come their children, whole and healthy.
That is the promise that we cannot yet see -
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away,
‘See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them;
he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.’ (Rev 21:1-4)
As we pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”, we must act to create a more heaven-like place where all children can be whole and healthy.
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