On Columbines

I scrapped the essay I planned to write today. I lived less than an hour from Columbine High School when Eric Harris & Dylan Klebold murdered 12 of their classmates and one of their teachers. I was five. I remember mom picking up my sister from her high school. I remember the service at church the Sunday after it happened. But on April 20th when I asked my mom what was wrong, she said, "Some bad men have done something that hurt a lot of people." She said those exact same words less than a year & a half later on September 11th.

In this season of Lent, the Church is called to a time of preparation, fasting, & self-examination. The very day a priest imposed ashes on my forehead and spoke, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return," a bad man, again, did something that hurt a lot of people. His former classmates. Swirling in my mind were all the school shootings since 1999, all the middle & high school students I walked with as a youth pastor, & the columbine flower.

This is a time for mourning. It is a time of fasting. It is a time to pray for Parkland, Florida. It is a time of self-examination, both towards our own hearts & for the very heart of our nation. We need to examine the world we are raising students & families in. We need to examine the laws which are intended to govern & protect. If politics concerns the question, "What do we owe those who come after us," then we ought to be horrified. We owe the next generation so much more than this, beyond legislation and into the very culture & ideals we impart. And we must examine our hearts, where we may be saddened to find the seeds of hate & pride taking root. We must be honest with where we are as a nation & as people. Only an answer that addresses the legal, societal, moral, & ethical realities will suffice. We owe those who come after that much.

Columbine High School is so christened after Colorado's state flower. The columbine's latin name aquilegia stems from the resemblance to both an eagle's claw & a cluster of doves. As a follower of Christ, I look forward in hope to all things being made right. As an American citizen, I yearn for change towards true justice, peace, & safety. I yearn to see life growing up from the ground. I will speak, vote, question, support, & sacrifice for this future. Columbine, Sandy Hook, Parkland, & too many others will evoke the pain of the past. May columbine flowers not only name our grief; may we aspire to see them grow on an America without school shootings.

Almighty God, who created us in your own image:

Grant us grace fearlessly to contend against evil and to make no peace with oppression; and, that we may reverently use our freedom, help us to employ it in the maintenance of justice in our communities and among the nations, to the glory of your holy Name;

through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.