In our social media world, we all get a chance to share our deepest thoughts with the world. Just as I am doing now. ;) Sometimes, I am not so sure we've really sorted them out before we start jumping on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook/blogspot.
And when 20 small children have died at the hands of a gunman....we desperately want to make sense of it. There is a new stage in grief (the classic seven is now eight). It is the cyber stage. We type our anger, our sadness, our shock. It could very well now be part of the healing process for humans.
For what it is worth, it's just lil ol' me talking here, may I supply a voice of caution? I am reading some things that concern me a tad. The latest example was someone I know (and love!) praising Mike Huckabee. I don't have cable, I've barely seem the media coverage....but I hopped over to Mike's site to see his quote. I am gonna assume my relative/friend was referring to his sentiment that since God is no longer "on the front end" we can't be so quick to pray to him "on the back end." I get it. It is an easy argument to jump to as one tries to make some sense of this. It is also easy to spout off one's view on gun control, whether for/against. (although, let's face it, it's not a black & white issue at all).
Prayer in school now becomes another political hot button in the wake of tragedy. People want to finger point badly (which is a totally normal response in grief)...and blaming the government is easy.
But I must tell you this from my personal experience. PRAYER HAS NEVER LEFT SCHOOL! I promise. Here is my firsthand experience in that truth. I moved back to Oklahoma in 2003. Shortly thereafter, I took a teaching job with OKC public. Some of you know the school, and I will keep it nameless here, but it was most definitely not your momma's sweet little suburban school. ;) I learned so much in those 3 school years! I also deepened my relationship with Christ in ways that I never could have fathomed, and I will always attribute that to my time at that school. I tagged five women on this facebook link. They worked at that school with me. Anna, Piper, Samantha, Erin, Stephanie. They are all incredibly prayerful women. We also had some very prayerful men there. I can guarantee you that every single DAY multiple prayers were uttered over our students, the school, our mission. No, we didn't have an "official" prayer over an intercom. No, we didn't have official teaching lessons about God. But if ever a student asked one of us about our faith....are you kidding me, of course we told them what we believed! And many of these kids were looking for something. Oh, friend, God was in that building all the time. Great things happened there. Sad things happened there.* God was with us, through it all. And, see, that is just one tale among THOUSANDS to attest to the fact that many prayerful people are in public schools. Besides, don't you think even thousands MORE who are not teachers pray for our school children?
I am not attempting a school prayer debate here. I just want to illustrate that that argument is a pretty weak one. Whether or not a governing body mandates prayer, you bet your Bible verses that I was praying at my teaching job! And so very many others do!
My caution is this: Let's not take our grieving processes and make them political warfare. No doubt ALL of us humans--liberal, conservative, Christian, left-wing, etc--- MUST agree that this crime was horrific and unacceptable. We all agree that LOVE is the only way for us not to extinct ourselves. Right?
Bless you in your grief, bless your children as you talk with them, and bless us all as we seek comfort from our Lord. "Get behind me, Satan!" Satan sucks. I hate Satan. Let's hug one another and not quote politicians & celebrities.
*My saddest memory from that school will always be hugging the neck of a crying, grieving momma. One of my students died in a gang fight. I learned of it on the news.
Lisa, thank you for your thoughtful comments. It seems our human condition wants to consider ourselves superior by finding an excuse to judge others to be wrong. This is a much deeper issue than any geographical location, skin color, religion, etc. Until we get to that core, it doesn't seem like the madness will stop. We hear little about the enormous number of kindnesses and sacrifices that people everywhere make to help others, like you and your fellow teachers do. I know prayers are constantly helping. It is a sad thing that violence drives the news and advertising pays for all that negative press. Thank you for being there for those around you.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right; acts of kindness and service are our only hope.
ReplyDeleteThank God we are meant for something more someday.