Test Driving Theology

Psalm 13

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
    How long will you hide your face from me?
 How long must I bear pain in my soul
    and have sorrow in my heart all day long?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God!
    Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
 and my enemy will say, “I have prevailed”;
    my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.

 But I trusted in your steadfast love;
    my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
 I will sing to the Lord
    because he has dealt bountifully with me.

There are hardly words to use today. My heart hurts. I cannot imagine the pain, the grief, the chaos, the confusion that people in Uvalde, Texas are experiencing today.

Yes, we need to pray.

But as people of faith, we also need to act. Mass shootings cannot continue. How long?

When the Psalmist wrote these words, it was an expression of pain and grief to God. “How long, O Lord,? ”

Today, I believe that God grieves. God had hopes and dreams for the lives of these 15 people. Those hopes and dreams were taken away. And I wonder…I wonder if God doesn’t look at us, and ask us, “How long?”

As people of faith, we need to have the social, political and spiritual courage to do the things that need to be done to end these shootings. We need to do the work.

And in the meantime, we do pray. Because we believe that prayer does make a difference:

God of hope, our heart breaks tonight for the lost lives, and for those who grieve. We entrust these lives to you, knowing that you hold them close. We ask you to surround those who hurt with your grace and remind them of the promise of the resurrection.

Give your people the courage to have the hard conversations and to take action to protect the lives of all of your people, especially the young and the vulnerable. Work within us to make your vision for our world a reality.

In the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.

Sabbatical – Day 2