Prayers for Aurora, Colorado

I was saddened to wake up & hear about the shooting in the movie theater in Colorado last night.  There were adults, kids, & babies that were killed & injured.  They had probably been waiting there for several hours to see Batman, and it ended in tragedy.  The last news clip I saw said that 12 were dead & 50 wounded. (MSNBC.com)


Senseless.  


Prayers go out for everyone affected by this senseless action.  There is no way to understand what the shooter was thinking, but I am glad that he was caught and will have to face justice for his actions.


I have read through several Bible verses this morning.  It clearly says that violence is wrong, but it also says to love your enemies and to forgive them.  This is a tough & touchy subject.  After doing some googling, I found the following sermon and notes from Edward Markquart about the Columbine shooting.  While this shooting is a different scenario, it has many similar qualities.  Innocent lives were lost when they thought they were in a safe place.  If you have time, read Markquart's thoughts on that tragedy and see what you think of the correlation to last night's shooting.


This is the first time that I've read any of Markquart's writing, but he ends the piece with this paragraph:


"Today’s sermon does not exegete one story from the Bible, nor do I offer any simple solutions to our complex addiction.  But I do believe that our culture is similar to the excessive violence found in the stories about Cain and his descendant, Lamech.  I believe that we have a cultural addiction to violence which has reached epidemic proportions  which then triggers violence in young males, much more than in other democratic nations.  I believe that the mass murder at  Columbine High School is one more tragic example of our addiction to violence at work.   I believe that we are in denial and are unwilling to look deeply at our addictions.  I believe that there is a cultural explosion going on as three cultural chemicals intermix:  availability of guns, powerful media repetition of violence, and parents too busy to parent.  And I believe it will take a miracle of God to become free from the violence which is destroying us.  I believe in miracles...which is another sermon for another day.  Amen"


Click here to read the Columbine article - it's an interesting read if you have a few minutes.


Prayerfully,
Jen