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<\/a>It has happened again.<\/p>\nDear God it has happened again.<\/p>\n
The reports coming out of Oregon \u00a0are just horrifying and gut-wrenching. My heart has been in knots \u00a0as various (and sometimes conflicting) stories of what happened there at Umpqua Community College. \u00a0Thirty people have been shot. \u00a0At least nine\u00a0people have died. Countless lives have been shattered. A community is in tatters. \u00a0It has happened again.<\/p>\n
Not long after reports of the shooting began to break, memes bearing the words, \u201cPrayers for Oregon\u201d began appearing across social media. This makes sense, after all, when we, as people of faith, don\u2019t know what else to do, we pray. This is what we\u2019ve been taught. \u00a0This is what we do. But this time, as I watched post after post flow across my News Feed something didn\u2019t feel right. It\u2019s like the same memes keep getting passed around from tragedy to tragedy. \u00a0First it was \u201cPrayers for Aurora\u201d then it was \u201cPrayers for Sandy Hook,\u201d now it\u2019s is \u201cPrayers for Oregon.\u201d It\u2019s like somewhere there is a meme generator that sits around and waits for the next shooting in order to just fill in the blank and recycle the same empty words across the interwebs.<\/p>\n
Is this the best we can do? \u00a0Is this the most faithful and life-giving response that we as a people can muster in the wake of yet another act of senseless and horrific violence? \u00a0I am sick and tired of simply sending prayers to my brothers and sisters who went to school today hoping to pass a test and instead wound up in a body bag. \u00a0So today, I am not sending \u201cPrayers for Oregon.\u201d<\/p>\n
I am not praying for Oregon because I already know that God was, is, and will continue to be with that community. \u00a0God was there when each one of those students woke up and exchanged words, hugs, and kisses with their cherished ones. \u00a0God was there when each of those students walked into their classrooms. \u00a0God was there in the chaos that soon enfolded that space. And God was there in the aftermath while holding the victims and weeping. \u00a0God will continue to be with that community as they attempt to heal and begin to piece their lives back together. \u00a0God is with Oregon. \u00a0Today. Tomorrow. Forever.<\/p>\n
Oregon does not need our prayers, because God is already working in that place and with those people. Right now,\u00a0I am praying for the rest of us. \u00a0Me. You. Everybody. \u00a0I am praying for us because WE are the ones who are in desperate need of God\u2019s grace and forgiveness. \u00a0WE are the one\u2019s who have allowed this senselessness to happen again. \u00a0WE are at fault. \u00a0So God, please be with us and forgive us.<\/p>\n
There have been forty-five mass shootings this year. \u00a0We have begun to treat these things like we would a tornado or wildfire. \u00a0Tragic, horrible, but altogether unpredictable or unpreventable. \u00a0As each shooting scrolls across our consciousness and as we learn of each victim and as we hear the stories of each shooter we allow ourselves to devolve into the same pointless political debates. \u00a0Gun Control. \u00a0Mental Health. Family Systems. Violent Media. All the talking heads pick their position and their potion and the dig their heels into the turf and we as a society are treated to a couple weeks of yelling and arguing and heated blog posts and then\u2026..<\/p>\n
Nothing changes. \u00a0Life get\u2019s back to \u201cnormal\u201d for a few weeks or maybe even a month until the next one occurs. \u00a0Then it\u2019s rinse, wash, repeat. \u00a0The same cycle turns over on itself time and time again. \u00a0There comes to a point where we begin to ask, \u201cwhat can we do, other than pray?\u201d So we make memes, design ribbons, and allow our hearts to break time and time again. \u00a0And nothing changes.<\/p>\n
So what will we do this time? \u00a0Oregon does not need our prayers. \u00a0The victims of this maddeningly repetitive violence need our actions. \u00a0They need something to change, quickly. Now. Will this finally be the time\u00a0when our hearts break just enough to allow a bit of humility to flow out from us and cause us to\u00a0step up and say that in this land in which we live these kind of things are absolutely unacceptable?<\/p>\n
Pick your cause and your culprit. \u00a0I don\u2019t care. But pick something and get passionate about it. \u00a0Guns? \u00a0Get \u2019em off the street. Mental Health? \u00a0Work to end the stigma surrounding mental illness and to provide funding for diagnosis and treatment. Family Systems? Work on strengthening family units through counseling, coordination, and education. \u00a0Violent Media? \u00a0Lobby Hollywood and the Gaming Industry to end the fascination with gore and violence.<\/p>\n
If none of these work for you, find your cause and do it quickly. \u00a0But whatever we do, we can no longer just say, \u201cThere\u2019s nothing we can do.\u201d This is no longer an acceptable response.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It has happened again. Dear God it has happened again. The reports coming out of Oregon \u00a0are just horrifying and gut-wrenching. My heart has been in knots \u00a0as various (and sometimes conflicting) stories of what happened there at Umpqua Community College. \u00a0Thirty people have been shot. \u00a0At least nine\u00a0people have died. Countless lives have been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2206,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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