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Response to a Heartbreaking Tragedy

This is not the article I planned to write.  That will come next week.  But today is the day after one of the deadliest school shootings in US history, at Robb Elementary School (TX), and here at Mt. Bethel where our lives revolve around the children in our care, it’s appropriate to talk with you about this tragic subject.  As a school with a mission to provide a Christ-centered education, we seek to view the world through a Biblical lens.  Let’s take a look at this together, considering how to view this heartbreaking tragedy through that lens, as well as to answer questions about what we at MBCA are doing in our own community…

Relevant Questions
Yesterday, as some across the country expressed sympathy and offered prayers, other prominent public figures spoke out in anger: “[Expletive] your prayers,” tweeted one politician. “They haven’t worked for the last 20 mass shootings, how about passing laws that will stop these killings.”  The message was clear – legislation is the answer to stopping this evil; prayers are meaningless, an exercise in futility.  While not everyone may express themselves so bluntly, the assumption is rooted in questions like, “Why would God allow this?” and “What good is prayer if it didn’t stop the tragedy?”

Why? The Bible provides insight into the question.  Romans 3:23 points out that our world is saturated in sin.  We live in a sinful -- and therefore fallen – world, and God declared from the moment of creation that sin results in death and pain (Romans 5:12, 6:23).  Could God have created beings that were unable to choose evil? C.S. Lewis explains in Mere Christianity, 
                     If a thing is free to be good it is also free to be bad. And free will is what has made evil possible. Why,                         then, did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only     
                     thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having.

He thoughtfully dives into this in far greater depth than can be dealt with here, but from a Biblical worldview, we know that it is a rejection of God and His call for righteousness that results in tragedies like school shootings.  

Why Pray? But if God allows people to choose sin, why pray?  The answer lies in the fact that there is another side to that coin.  As horrible as the reality is that humanity is fallen and results in a dysfunctional world, it is also true that God offers redemption (Titus 2:14, Colossians 1:20-22, et al.).  This is a beautiful truth that I sometimes find overwhelming.  In the Biblical account of Joseph, we see that after being sold into slavery by his brothers, facing abuse, false accusations and treachery, he said to his perpetrators, “What evil you planned against me, God intended for good…”  So, what do we pray for as Christians when we hear of tragedies like this?  We pray for God’s redemptive power.
  • We pray for God to bring redemption despite the evil
  • We pray that tragedy will wake us from our temporal, earthly focus and draw us closer to God, discovering his redemptive work  
  • We pray that this taste of evil will make us recoil and instead seek God’s goodness
  • We pray for comfort for those who are grieving
  • We pray that we and communities of believers will show love to those in need
  • We pray for discernment to wisely implement policies to protect our community
Several years ago, one of my best friends, and dad of two of my students, suddenly and tragically died.  One day we were laughing and living life, the next he was gone.  I remember like yesterday when his wife stood up in our school chapel service just a few short weeks later and said, “Don’t ask why. Ask how. Ask how God can use this tragedy to bring glory to Him.” The power in those words from a wife and mom so recently widowed struck me deeply.  She knew that despite the sinful, fallen world we now live in, God can bring life-giving redemption that extends beyond this world.  

How to talk to our kids
School is out, but we’re always happy to be a resource if your children are struggling with this or any other tragedy they may face. Our faculty and counselors have walked that difficult road with many of our families, and we are honored to partner with our parents in difficult times.  Here are a few resources that may be helpful to draw on in these sorts of circumstances: 

National Child Traumatic Stress Network: Talking to Children About the Shooting  
American School Counselor Association: Helping Students After a School Shooting 
What we are doing
We take the security of our students seriously, and we are continually assessing our safety.  Some fast facts:
  • As it happens, our admin team has been working with our security personnel this month and just completed an update to our active shooter policy   
  • We do active shooter training drills throughout the year 
  • Our armed security officer is a former police officer and Military Police veteran
  • All our exterior doors on our campuses are locked, and we have a visitor registry and pass system
  • We have a network of security cameras in all areas of our campuses  
However, there is still work that needs to be done.  We are committed to continuous improvement, and an incident like the tragedy in Texas causes us to pause and reflect on the effectiveness of our systems.
Thank you for your engagement on this topic, and if you’d like to talk further, ask questions, or seek support for your children, please know that we are happy to continue the conversation.  May God’s grace bring comfort to those affected and wisdom to us as parents and professionals.  
 
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