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I served on our church Trustees group in 2012 when the horrendous
mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School took the lives of 20 children and
6 adult staff members. Many people
across the country were offering their thoughts and prayers. That tragic event of 13 years ago prompted us
to initiate a variety of security measures that are needed today more than
ever.
I’ve noticed that more folks are recently challenging remarks by
others during troubled times when they remark “Our thoughts and prayers are
with you.” They cry for that plus action! That
phrase has almost become cliché in our culture and folks are noticing.
The recent rampage of Hurricane Helene and the resultant response demonstrated
that prayers and action go well together!
The mayor of Minneapolis, where a gunman opened fire at a
Catholic church and school 13 years later, killing at least two children and
injuring 17 others during morning Mass, mostly children, said "thoughts
and prayers" were not a sufficient response to the mass shooting. He noted the kids were literally praying at
the time. He’s right, more action is
needed in the area of security, military style weapons and mental health. Most all but one of similar mass shootings
lately have involved young men.
The Tibetan prayer flag above
states that “Happiness comes when your work and words are of benefit to yourself and others.” Offering “thoughts and prayers” is surely a
wonderful thought, but when those words are all that is offered without some
positive action to attempt to right the wrong, those words become cliché and merely platitudes.
Hopefully, the prayers will inspire us to action!
Karl Barth was
right when he observed: “To clasp the hands in prayer is the
beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.” This
troubled world, including the Holy Land and our schools, is definitely worthy
of our prayers and our actions! The floods that have
ravaged our state recently remind us of our strength.
“We may bend but
we never break.” When the night is dark, be the star that ushers us home.
