I offer my thoughts and prayers to the families of those affected by the Connecticut shootings.
I was notified of this incident by email while in Denver conducting a funeral service for a woman who had passed from Alzheimer’s disease. For me, the preparation for such a service always involves an expanded consideration of life, of death, and what it is to express on the human plane. Needless to say, the news of the deaths of these young children and adults brought about in a manner such as this is a very difficult thing to reconcile, even with the broadest of views of life and death. My heart totally goes out to family members and friends and to all who were touched by this unfortunate event.
Try as we may, there are things on the human level that make little sense, with the mass murder of innocents ranking among the highest. As a minister, I can offer no easy answers to why such things happen. I would not even venture to do so. What I offer, and what I have invited my congregation and all followers of this blog to offer, is a continued holding of the high watch, of knowing there is but one presence and one power in the Universe; God, the Good, omnipotent. Let us hold a vision of absolute life and the total embrace of God’s everlasting love. Let us hold a vision of absolute peace for those whose peace has been momentarily shattered. Let us hold a vision of a deeper, unfolding understanding of the broadest vistas of life for those who are yet unable to see beyond these current moments of excruciating pain. Let us hold a vision of strength for those who now need it most.
While words and prayers may seem trite at such times, they do carry the power from which we give them. They do touch lives in important ways. We may never know how, but we hold with absolute conviction that this is so. God’s light and love are the one reality. Let us hold fast this clear and powerful vision.
In deepest sincerity,
J Douglas Bottorff