Bishop David L. deFreese Nebraska Synod, ELCA

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Dear friends,

“What then shall we say in response to all this?  If God is for us, who can be against us?  For God who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all.  Shall God not also graciously give us all things?  Who can separate us from God’s love?  Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life; neither angels or demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours in Christ Jesus our Lord”                                                        Romans 8

     Besieged with emotions we feel inadequate to express, our community of Nebraska has been confronted with an unspeakable terror.  Yesterday, one of our children, so desperate and despondent, chose death as his response to the pain of living…and also chose to afflict so many others with murderous agony.  The horrific events overwhelm us with their senselessness and frightfulness.  Random outrage killed innocent people simply living life’s tasks.  We are filled with sorrow, confusion, anger, and fragile vulnerability.

     As those who follow the Christ, how are we to respond?

     We grieve together.  Sadness permeates this whole event.  We ache for those families whose loved ones were so treacherously stolen from their midst.  The finality of this appalling choice hurts to the very core.  As the painful story of Robert Hawkin’s life unfolds, we again face the dark valley of broken belonging.  As our children are startled out of innocence and our own mortality awakens, we bemoan the recognition of the dangers around us.  In grief, we reach out, consoling each other.

     We tell the truth.  Evil is real.  Human brokenness and sin have consequences.  We do not deny reality with thoughtless mantras that hide the truth.  In a society that too often hears: “Everything happens for a reason,” we honestly admit our inadequacy to understand.  We also challenge subtle attempts to blame God.  God did not cause this, but was present in the midst of the suffering….the God of the Cross was with them and us.  God’s heart breaks.

     We turn to God…this God who continually turns to us.  In this season of “Immanuel….God with us,” we recognize anew the tremendous compassion of our God who came, who comes, and who promises to be with us always.  In turning, we also trust the redeeming power of our God who can transform Good Fridays into Easters.  We re-tell the story of love so amazing that God would defeat sin, death, and the devil through the Cross of Christ and rise triumphant with the hope of life.

       We live with hope.  We move forward with purpose.  Death and evil do not have the final word…God does!

       May the shadow of  Jesus’ Cross be cast over all of our lives, and God’s grace uphold and encourage us.

                                                                                       Blessings!

                                                                                        Bishop David deFreese

                                                                                                Nebraska Synod, ELCA