Thoughts that seem important by Pastor Tart

Thoughts that seem important:
The unspeakable horror of the Virginia Tech tragedy once again reveals to us the power of evil and sin in the world. We stand mystified before such a nightmare at how anyone could become that insane to want to kill innocent people. We want to blame. We want vengeance, but none of these things can bring us back to the day before the killings and injuries.
Mirabai Starr in her article “Shepherds in the Dark Night” in Sojourners Magazine, (Shepherds in the Dark Night) writes about “holding space” for grieving people. By this she means that we allow people the opportunity to express their shock, anger, and sadness. We stand with them in this place and honor their spiritual journey. Platitudes violate this space by communicating to the bereaved that they, “shouldn’t feel that way”. Instead we offer to them open ended questions and words of love and support.
As we still deal with the news let us hold the space for the grieving and also hold space for the people of random violence everywhere. We move to deeper understandings of the people of Iraq and those serving in Iraq who deal with this on a daily basis.
As people of faith we believe that the grace and hope of God will come to the space. As mentioned in her article, in the Psalm 23 the writer says, “Even though I walk through the shadow of death, I will fear no evil”. For a shadow to appear there has to be light.
In the space of grief, the light of the cross and resurrection shines and brings healing and hope. The space of grief with its tormenting pain, is a holy space. For those who find themselves is this holy space, we pray that faith, hope and love will abide.,
Remember: The holy space of grief.