{"id":3156,"date":"2012-12-23T16:35:37","date_gmt":"2012-12-23T21:35:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thinplaces\/?p=3156"},"modified":"2012-12-23T16:36:52","modified_gmt":"2012-12-23T21:36:52","slug":"for-those-who-mourn-this-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thinplaces\/2012\/12\/for-those-who-mourn-this-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"For Those Who Mourn This Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I have had a number of people ask me how I respond to the Sandy Hook shootings from a theological perspective. I\u2019ve written a few responses over the past week, and I suspect I will write more. There is a time for mourning, for silence, for crying out to God, for refusing to accept easy answers or trite consolation. I tried to express some of these thoughts immediately after news of the shooting reached me when I wrote Where Is God When Children Are Murdered Down the Road?<\/a>\u00a0I suspect that for families of the children and teachers who died, this need to question and cry out could last for a very long time.<\/p>\n

For others, it is already time to ask questions and try to puzzle through answers. I\u2019ve written three different responses this week, reflecting upon how we might respond (What I will Teach My Children After Sandy Hook<\/a>), how we might think about the complexity of the issues raised (Sin, Sickness, and Sandy Hook<\/a>), and how we can continue to celebrate Christmas in the midst of such horror (Joy All Year Long, and Even in the Midst of Sorrow<\/a>).<\/p>\n

I have written two other essays in the past that might also contribute some thoughts on grief and hope and where God fits into this sadness:<\/p>\n

The Reality of Hope<\/a>, in which I look back upon the death of my mother-in-law and<\/p>\n

Asking Why After a Child\u2019s Accidental Death<\/a>, in which I address the death of children in particular.<\/p>\n

I will conclude with a poem, which is also a prayer, I wrote after some children died in a boating accident during the fourth of July last summer. I continue to pray this as we celebrate the birth of Jesus, and as we plead for Jesus to come again:<\/p>\n

I do not want to learn anything more about death<\/em><\/p>\n

The way it steals and darkens and tears apart<\/em><\/p>\n

I only want to learn about death overcome<\/em><\/p>\n

The stories rewritten<\/em><\/p>\n

The tears wiped away<\/em><\/p>\n

And all working for good<\/em><\/p>\n

Please<\/em><\/p>\n

God<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have had a number of people ask me how I respond to the Sandy Hook shootings from a theological perspective. I\u2019ve written a few responses over the past week, and I suspect I will write more. There is a time for mourning, for silence, for crying out to God, for refusing to accept easy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6],"tags":[346,352,566,565],"class_list":["post-3156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith","category-family","tag-advent","tag-christmas","tag-newtown","tag-sandy-hook-shootings"],"yoast_head":"\nFor Those Who Mourn This Christmas - Thin Places-Faith, Family and Disability<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I have had a number of people ask me how I respond to the Sandy Hook shootings from a theological perspective. 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