Virgina Tech and Life in the Way of Jesus

Over the past few weeks when we have got together as a group we have been talking about creating a different kind of community in which we engage our neighbors and our communities differently than perhaps the traditional, and perhaps even market-driven, church has. However, I have noticed rather than talking positively about what doing life in the way of Jesus reframes us in engaging life differently we have more or less focused on what has been unhelpful in the "church' contexts we have come out of.

So last Saturday we began refocusing on how do we engage life with integrity by focusing not so much on what bugs us, but what life in the way of Jesus calls us to.

As I reflect on the tragedy at Virginia Tech last week in light of this, I wonder not so much where God was in this context, because though God is actively present, we were never created to be "robots" who have no will or responsibility of our own. We live in a messed up world largely because we mess it up and we take, rather than give to one another. But I wonder where we see God; where is God visible in this time of grieving, this time for which healing is needed?

One thing I notice is that the campus wants to grieve together. Though students have been given the option to go home, even remain at home -- taking whatever grade they have to this point as their final grade, most students expressed that the place where they want to grieve, the place they want to process this pain is on campus. Virginia Tech is very vulnerable in this time -- not in relation to security because they are evaluating this, but in terms of people open, being human, being real with one another. I see this as a time for listening to one another, for crying with one another, for holding one another -- perhaps being with other students and faculty in a way they never have before.

Where is God in this? I believe in the midst of this. God is very present on campus. Mourning, such as is going on at Virginia Tech, can lead to healing if it is mourning in hope, rather than despair. Though many may despair, those who begin to see God being present with them in this situation can begin to mourn in hope -- hope for healing, hope in the midst of pain, hope that enables students and faculty to wake up tomorrow and live into a new day. And for those who seek to live life in the way of Jesus -- they are the ones who in seeing the emotional vulnerability of the campus do not make it into an opportunity to make converts, but rather are ones who make themselves available to God's Spirit to be persons who make visible the love, the compassion, and presence of God in the midst of mourning. Jesus said, when he was talking about the new reality of living life under the rule of God, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted" (Matthew's Gospel). Those living in the way of Jesus make themselves available to friends, neighbors, even strangers, to walk alongside them in order to help others to receive the comfort that God offers in difficult and tragic circumstances.

Let's talk more about this on Saturday -- how do we as people seeking to live life in the way of Jesus notice those around us who are grieving/mourning and how do we become persons who bring comfort to those who mourn?

Roland