The events of last Sunday afternoon have sent a shock wave around communities of faith.  It is an event whose horror and resultant despair is beyond description.  As news outlets and others write and speak about the event, words from the 2nd Chapter of the Book of Job came to mind.  

11 When three of Job’s friends heard of the tragedy he had suffered, they got together and traveled from their homes to comfort and console him. Their names were Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite.12 When they saw Job from a distance, they scarcely recognized him. Wailing loudly, they tore their robes and threw dust into the air over their heads to show their grief. 13 Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and nights. No one said a word to Job, for they saw that his suffering was too great for words.

As I reflect upon the shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, like Job’s friends, few if any words come to my mind, just silence.  I remain speechless and at the moment I find the suffering there too great for words.  Instead of words entering my mind, I have been overwhelmed with two images.  

The first is of the cross upon which Jesus was crucified.  The second, which I gain only glimpses of, has to do with what Jesus must have seen as he gazed out upon the crowds as he hung dying.  And for the moment I am simply sitting in silence with both images.  

Rather than offer empty words this week, I invite you to spend some time in quiet prayer with God, knowing that in the months ahead, another story like this one will be repeated, but in another setting.  So I prayerfully ask, “How does God want me to respond?”  And as we journey following Jesus, I invite you to do the same.