Thursday 7/26/2012 4:48 AM
During the past week I have been trying to make sense of
the shooting rampage in a crowded movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, allegedly
perpetrated by James Holmes. It seems he
planned the attack for months, amassing guns, tear gas, and ammunition before
carrying out the attack. Like others,
the seeming randomness of the act puzzles me the most. It is another reminder that each day of life
is a gift from God that should not be taken for granted.
The words of Psalm 62:5-8 are a good reminder to me this
morning. “Yes, my soul, find rest in
God; my hope comes from him. Truly he is
my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; he
is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in
him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.” It is certainly good advice to trust in God
rather than to trust in people but that advice rings somewhat hollow in the
current circumstances. The last verses
of Psalm 62 read, “One thing God has spoken, two things I have heard: ‘Power
belongs to you, God, and with you, Lord, is unfailing love’; and, ‘You reward
everyone according to what they have done.’”
These two statements paired together beg the question, “How could a
loving, powerful God allow this to happen?”
Or perhaps, “If God rewards everyone according to what they have done,
what did those who were shot do to deserve what they got?” I, along with other Christians, can piously
quote scripture and say that everything works out for good for those who love
God but this situation flies in the face of those kinds of empty platitudes and
hearing people make those kinds of statements makes me cringe in embarrassment.
Today I read an excerpt from Why, O Lord?, by Carlo Carretto, in which he refers to what he
calls a messianic dream. The short
excerpt didn’t describe what that dream entailed but I would consider a messianic
dream to be one in which the world is set right; so that things are the way
they were meant to be. Carretto suggests
that when we receive this dream we meditate upon it and then, “By listening,
journeying, pausing, you make the dream more definite. … Learn to taste God,
get used to God’s logic, admire its contents.”
The phrase “get used to God’s logic” caught my attention. My sister Ruth once made a statement that I
never let her forget, “Logic doesn’t make sense to me.” Being a mathematician, hearing someone make a
statement like that is the height of absurdity.
However, when it comes to God’s logic I’m right there with Ruth. God’s logic doesn’t make sense to me and I
have a feeling that no amount of listening, journeying, pausing or meditating
will allow me to get used to it. I’m
sure some well-meaning Christian will tell me that I need more faith but, given
the way I feel now, if they did, I’d tell them where to get off the train.
