It's been a while. I've been wanting to write another blogpost for about three weeks, but several thoughts and issues have been wrestling around in my mind, and I've had trouble finding the words to put them at peace. Just imagine five fat, bare-chested sumo wrestlers all fighting each other at once, and me in the middle, trying to put them in their corners. Yikes. It ain't pretty.
But, joking aside, sometimes words are inadequate. When I see a breathtakingly beautiful sunrise or sunset, I can't find words to describe that kind of beauty. When I hear music composed so that it plays on my heartstrings, I'm speechless.
When it comes to tragedy like the shooting of children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14 - when it comes to the utter grief of the families who lost loved ones - there really are no words. Nothing I can say will make it better or easier. Nothing I can say will come close to expressing the heartache of those families and that community. There are some depths of the human heart that words cannot touch.
Thus, I have been slow to write anything recently. How could I?
Another reason I have hesitated to write about this tragedy is because of the journalistic rule of timeliness. You're supposed to write about it as soon as it happens so that people still care. So that you're not writing about old news. Well, for one thing, this is not a news blog, nor am I a journalist. Further than that, however, we should never think of such a thing as the Sandy Hook shooting as "old news." Our hearts should heal, yes, but they should not become hardened. Certainly, for those families and that community, I imagine the grief is still as sharp and overwhelming as it was the day after the shooting. Perhaps it is now that the shock of it has begun to wear off, and they feel the pain more sharply than ever. We cannot forget about them just because ten days have passed - it's not old news to them, and they need our prayers and support.
Now, some people would criticize me for this, but I don't like getting involved in political debate or discussion. I'm not good at debating, and I usually don't know enough about the issues to have any meaningful contribution. And, like I said, all the talking and the political arguments cannot heal the hearts of those Connecticut families.
However, watching the world react to the Sandy Hook tragedy compels me to speak. But I don't really have anything "political" to say. Many people see the tragedy and don't know what to do, so they rail against the NRA and call for more stringent gun laws. The problem with their reactions is that the problem we face - the reason for tragedy and heartache - isn't a political issue at all. It isn't about laws and institutions. The problem is our own hearts. The problem is the fact that every single person's heart is full of wickedness, and we are in desperate need of a Redeemer.
The world sees the darkness and doesn't know what to do with it. Without God, the world tries to make sense of things by blaming the maker of the tool used to commit the murder and by creating more laws. But those things are ultimately empty. If a man's heart is set upon committing such a heinous crime, no amount of gun restrictions will stop him.
Without God, there is no hope.
And that's just the point of Christmas, isn't it?
Because Christmas has become such a cheerful holiday, we forget the darkness and horrible silence to which Jesus came when He was born. The nation of Israel had suffered four hundred years of silence from God. At the end of Malachi in the Old Testament - after their nation's history had been full of God communicating with them - God became completely silent. He had promised a deliverer, and that's all they could hold onto, because He didn't say anything to them for four hundred years. Four hundred years. Just take a minute to wrap your mind around that. ... How many generations must have passed that heard about God but nothing from God Himself?
Furthermore, by the time the book of Matthew opens up the New Testament, Israel has no king and is under the dominion of Rome. I imagine that most people felt hopeless when they thought of all God's promises. And God Himself steps into that darkness.
I try not to rail against the commercialism that our culture has brought to the Christmas season. I actually enjoy the decorations and feasts and music and parties and gift-giving. In an article on Relevant Magazine online called "In Defense of the Christmas Rush," Ellen Painter Dollar says, "The rush of days, the piles of presents, the trees and the food and the ornaments... and all the rest - these are not distractions but testimonies to the thing."
We can feel free to get excited about decorating and giving gifts because we have something to celebrate. But it's important to remember why God-come-to-earth is something worth celebrating. It's worth celebrating because of tragedies like the Sandy Hook shooting and the darkness from which we cannot rescue ourselves. It's worth celebrating because man's heart is full of hatred and rage and lust and greed and pride, and there's nothing we can do about it. God-come-to-earth is worth celebrating because, left to ourselves, we are enslaved to sin and darkness and heartache, and we are guilty of the vilest sins, worthy of God's wrath and deserving of everlasting punishment, and we can't do anything about it.
God-come-to-earth is worth celebrating because Jesus came - came as a baby and grew to be a man - and He took the punishment for our sins.
The Christ-child in the manger is worth celebrating because Jesus brought light to our darkness. But you won't see the light until you are convicted and convinced of the darkness.
Please understand, reader, I don't want to depress you on Christmas Eve. Not at all. But our joy in Christmas and our celebration can be so much deeper if we think about what it means that Jesus came to earth and rescued us from our brokenness.
So, as we grieve and pray for families who lost loved ones at Sandy Hook, let us not lose heart. The world will try to cope but ultimately has no hope to offer us. Let us then turn with ever-deepening gratitude that Jesus Christ, God's Son, has rescued us from deepest darkness and has invited us into His kingdom of light and life. It is true that we will grieve, but we also hope. We are broken and lost, but He is our Healer and Redeemer, and in Him there is hope in abundance.
