In the Wake of Tragedy

Good Morning Everyone,

I wanted to take some time this week and really reflect on the tragedy in Boston and offer a prayer for the people affected and in the time of reflection the past couple of days, there was a fertilizer plant explosion just north of Waco TX.  Both of these tragedies swirling with the news reports of the 15 yr old girl that took her life in California just seven days after an assault on her at a party and then some cyber bullying that happened afterwards that drove her to feel that the only way out was to take her own life.  

So let me start with the 15 yr old Potts young lady, the Boston Marathon, and then the fertilizer plant.

Ms. Potts.  First I want to start off by saying that m heart goes out to any family that has lost a child.  The familiar saying is that "It is not supposed to happen this way...the parent is supposed to go before the child".  That expression and many others don't comfort in that time of need.  Actually many people will say many things to try an console a family over loss.  These things are not meant to be insensitive but many times we don't know what to say.  Things like...
"God needed her more..."
"God took her to save her from tragedy later..."
"God needed to teach us something..."
While we search for the words to say please remember that God does not take anyone...God receives them with open arms and unfortunately life and death happen in this world but we are given eternal life through Jesus Christ where there will be no more death, sickness, and hurting.  Which can lead into another discussion.  What happens when someone is successful in completing suicide attempt.

In the United Methodist Church we believe the following:

We believe that suicide is not the way a human life should end. Often suicide is the result of untreated depression, or untreated pain and suffering. The church has an obligation to see that all persons have access to needed pastoral and medical care and therapy in those circumstances that lead to loss of self-worth, suicidal despair, and/or the desire to seek physician-assisted suicide. We encourage the church to provide education to address the biblical, theological, social, and ethical issues related to death and dying, including suicide. United Methodist theological seminary courses should also focus on issues of death and dying, including suicide.

A Christian perspective on suicide begins with an affirmation of faith that nothing, including suicide, separates us from the love of God (Romans 8:38-39). Therefore, we deplore the condemnation of people who complete suicide, and we consider unjust the stigma that so often falls on surviving family and friends.

We encourage pastors and faith communities to address this issue through preaching and teaching. We urge pastors and faith communities to provide pastoral care to those at risk, survivors, and their families, and to those families who have lost loved ones to suicide, seeking always to remove the oppressive stigma around suicide. The Church opposes assisted suicide and euthanasia.

From The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church - 

Please pray about this stance in the light of your own circumstances and challenges around suicide and the families that are left to deal with it and the pain that is left behind.

I want to address one more issue in light of the tragedy of this young 15 year old.  As parents we have a responsibility to our children.  A responsibility to protect them, guide them, and lead them in paths that have a good outcome.  We know that our kids will "detour" sometimes in life and we need to be there to help them back on the right road.  Proverbs 22:6-"Train a child in the way that they should go and when they are old they will not turn from it".  In my struggle with everything that happened with this young lady is the fact that the parents let their child at 15 years old, go to a friends house overnight without any adult supervision.  This does not excuse the horrible acts committed by the teenage boys, but I believe in my heart that if the parents made a more positive decision, a more authoritative decision, then it might have avoided this tragedy all together.  My heart goes out to the Potts family, the family of the boys, the friends that feel the loss of their friend, and the school officials that suffer the loss of a student.

Second, is the Boston Marathon tragedy.  I cannot begin to tell you the emotions that flooded in my heart the first time that I saw the videos of these calculated and heartless bombs that when off killing two but wounding almost two hundred physically but the wounds that transcend this tragedy are countless.  There are many feelings that we will feel in the wake of this event.  W will feel anger towards whomever did this, we will feel a sense of revenge to get the people back who did this, and we will also feel sorrow and loss for those who were there and are dealing with the aftermath.

Be careful not to lose the sense of who we are as Christ followers in the wake of this tragedy.  First and foremost a Christian is supposed to show love and not hate.  "Love those who persecute you", isn't that what Jesus said?  How about Jesus' words from the Cross towards the people that drove the nails in his hands..."Father, forgive them for they know not what they do".  I believe that the people who are responsible for this heinous act should be brought to justice and they are in fact punishable by the law of our land.  But remember it is easy to hate...it can be difficult to love, show mercy, and walk humbly with our God.

I also want to point out that in the culture and society that we live in, social media has taken front stage.  Pictures and stories that are surfacing from this tragedy are not always true.  There have been many pictures taken from other incidences and stories where names, places, and times are changed to fuel the fire of hate.  Don't believe everything you read and see on the internet and I urge you to go to trusted websites and not just click on anything that Google pops up.  Be responsible in the emails that you forward as well and check them with www.snopes.com.

Lastly, I would like you to be in prayer for the families who were impacted by the fertilizer plant explosion.  5-10 were killed and many will be affected as well.  I still don't know all of the details of this tragedy because there are so many false stories going around, but what I do know is that this is another tragic event and many families will feel loss.

So in closing I am going to leave you with a prayer that not only covers the three tragedies mentioned above but many of the tragedies that happen around the world everyday...Will you pray with me...

Loving and merciful God we come before you in the wake of tragedy
We come before you with questions and seeking answers
Lord, we want to know why?
How can a loving God allow these tragedies...people hurt...the loss of life....to happen
Help us to realize that it is not you O Lord that causes these tragedies
But you are God who heals and walks with us in the midst of the pain and suffering
That you are a God who puts our feet back on solid ground and helps us to stand.

Lord we pray for all families who suffer loss
We pray for families whose hearts are breaking around your world
We pray for families who are being torn apart by war, acts of terror, and by those who feel they have no other choice but to take their own life.
We pray for your healing among the nations and upon the oppressed as well as the oppressor
We pray for the victims and those who bully and act out of hate
Help us to always act in love

We ask O God that your hand cover those who deal with tragedy where there is no person who caused it as in the fertilizer plant explosion
Things that happen where there may have been nothing we can do to prevent it
But our action is to pray, and our re-action is to pray, and our instinct is to pray
Because in prayer we find peace, we feel your presence, and we find comfort
Help us to love, free us to care, open us to experience, and pour out your grace upon us so we can share it with others

As a people we pray all these things in the Name of Your Son, Jesus the Christ, who showed us the way...Amen

Esperanza!!
Pastor Scot
Proverbs 22:6

The Lorax

Greetings Everyone,

It has been 7 days shy of a month since I posted my last blog...did you miss me??  Well it has been an entirely busy Easter Season, Spring Semester at School, and trying to find time to do what it takes to be a Godly Father, Godly Husband, and a Godly Pastor.  So I think things are getting back to some normalcy and I look forward to posting weekly again on my blog.  You will also be able to find a link to my blog on Kenton UMC's improved website www.kentonumc.org

Since i mentioned the improved website, let me also add that one of the things that will be added within the next week or so is the ability to donate to Kenton online. You will be able to give directly to the church, to the youth ministries, or the building fund.  it will make things so much more convenient and will enable people around the world to be able to support the vision and mission of Kenton to introduce people to God through the person of Jesus Christ so that their hearts and minds may be transformed by the Word of God.

This Sunday we will be back to Dr. Seuss and we will be discussing The Lorax.  A lot of questions came to mind for this particular study.  We could talk about the environment, we could talk about responsibility, or we could talk about evangelism.  Well, I am trying to roll all three of those things into one 17 minute sermon.  So here is how you can respond to this week's blog...

Environment: What are some things that you are doing to help our environment?

Responsibility: How are we being responsible when it comes to injustices in our country and around our world?

Evangelism: How are we spreading the seeds of God's love to everyone we meet?

One other thing...take a look at  http://www.seussville.com/loraxproject/  
(or just google the lorax project)

This is a great way to help protect forests and endangered animals around the world.  It has some great activities and fun stuff for the kids as well.  Check it out and I will talk at ya next Monday!!!

Esperanza!
Pastor Scot

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