What should we do?
We hear that cry from Littleton, Colorado and Conyers, Georgia and Port Huron, Michigan. One of my friends answer it better than I. Here are some thoughts Pastor Wayne Hoedt offered in the May newsletter of Christ Our Savior, Edmore:
I heard a gentleman say in a telephone call-in to a local radio show the morning after the shooting in Littleton, Colorado, that we need to "take our children back" from whatever has taken them from us, from what is right. We need to "take them back" from whatever has directed them to a thought pattern that permits the complete annihilation of someone who is different or who has brought you some unhappiness.
Most of us wouldn't disagree. I surely don't.
But I suggest that we need to do more than just take them back. We must provide something better to replace what we have rescued them from. Just to rescue isn't the answer. We get involved in schools through volunteerism. And we should! We arrange our time, after work obligations, to spend time with our family in play and leisure. And we should!
We monitor what our children see on TV or play on the video game system, and provide good reading materials for them to see. And we should!
But too many of us don't commit to the same level the bringing of our children and grandchildren into an environment where they will be in the presence of God. I am talking about fellowship with God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in the context of a congregation.
What should we to do? We should remember that we cannot do it alone, apart from God and God's people. I agree with my friend Wayne -- it's not enough to just "take our children back." To save their bodies and their souls, we need to give them away, surrender them to God and the people of God. That's what little Noah's parents did last Sunday at his baptism. That's what every man, woman and child tries to do every Sunday at Good Shepherd. We can only take our souls back by giving our lives away -- in the sure and certain promise that when Christ gives them back to us, we will be made whole again.
Pastor Jim
Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Luke 12: 33-34
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E-mail your comments and questions to Pastor Jim in care of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church at gslc@sirus.com.