It's been barely 48 hours since the deranged mayhem in Newtown, Connecticut left 20 first graders dead in their classroom, and already this tragedy is being replaced in the headlines by Kelly Clarkson's engagement and Kristen Stewart's see through dress.  I, for one, can't get the terror of that morning out of my mind, and I am not yet ready to be distracted by the latest Hollywood starlet or sports superstar. 

The news of the shooting, like most breaking news, was vague and inaccurate at first:  One person was shot, the older brother was the shooter, the mother taught at Sandy Hook, the father was shot in his home, the victims were Kindergartners.  All these early reports were inaccurate.  Slowly, the truth came out.  Much quicker to appear, though, were the defences.  Like Bob Dylan's "Who Killed Davy Moore" many parties' biggest concern seemed to be passing the blame:   Conservatives chanted, "Assault weapons don't kill, crazy people do!"  Liberals replied, "Don't you dare use this event to infringe on the civil liberties of the mentally ill!"  Certain Christians have already begun using the deaths of these children to support their bad eschatology, while others seem to settle a for pie in the sky when you die theology.  No doubt Pat Robertson and the lunatic fringe will start to blame the massacre on gays.  Or feminists.  Or Haitians.  Or Alzheimer patients.

I do not want to exploit the deaths of children for political or religious views.  I want to cry.  In fact, the only thing I could do after getting home from work and hearing the enomity of the violence, was to listen to Melanie's "Peace Will Come According to Plan"  over and over and over, until this promise / prayer began to be at least somewhat believable again.

The truth is, since at least the time of Job, mankind has been asking God to explain tragedies, and God has remained shockingly silent.  Perhaps our finite minds can't begin to understand any explanation He could offered.  Or perhaps it's our fragile emotions that couldn't.  Perhaps the created has no right asking the Creator to explain Himself.  Or perhaps that's just how God rolls.  We need to remember that problems inevitably arise when we try to fill God's silence with our own religious chatter.

While God rarely if ever tells us why things are, He clearly tells us how to respond:  "Weep with those who weep; Rejoice with those who rejoice." (Romans 12:15)   So, after Melanie's refrains of "Peace Will Come"  were finally silenced, I pondered this call to empathy.  I have decided, as the student ministry director at Windham Christian Academy, I will require our  classes to send cards to the students of Newtown.  No cliches, no promises or explanations on God's behalf, just "We so sorry;  We are grieving with you."  I know this isn't much after such a horrid event, but I remember reading that after 9 - 11, Joan Baez chose not to write a song or do a benefit concert.  Instead, she and her mom brought cookies to the local fire department.  It wasn't much, but it's not nothing. 

 " Do not repay evil with evil, but overcome evil with good." Romans 12:21