THE MASS SHOOTING AT THE GILROY GARLIC FESTIVAL

Again, we process a nameless horror.  Gilroy California is drenched in innocent blood.  Everything else should pale in significance.  Here’s the report so far:

Bloody scenes as terrified revelers run for their lives when ‘shooter in fatigues opens fire with a semi-automatic weapon’ on Gilroy Garlic Festival in California, killing THREE and leaving at least 60 people injured

Gunfire erupted at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Northern California 6 pm Sunday

The situation is active and police have not confirmed fatalities or injuries

A police source said as many as 60 were injured in the mayhem

City Councilman Dion Bracco reported that three people had been killed

It is unclear whether any suspects have been arrested as the scene is still active

Several witnesses reported hearing popping noises and then seeing a man in military fatigues spraying the crowd with bullets from a semi-automatic weapon

Video shows panicked attendees fleeing the park after the shots rang out

President Donald Trump tweeted that the shooter had not yet been apprehended

Anyone who saw anything during the shooting to call police at 408-846-0583

Even so, the usual suspects will disgrace themselves.   NBC already made it seem without any proof that this shooting was targeting Muslims. They will rub salt of the wounds of those who have lost loved ones by making a political grandstand.  Please…somebody shut these people up!

Grief counsellors will dispense trite psycho-babble.  Their advice will harp on environmental factors to help explain this mad man’s behavior.

Vacuous theologians who will tell us God has a plan in all of this.

Doomsday prophets will spew venom saying, “see, I told you so, this is God judging America.”

The short supply of comfort, decency, and sanity are a testament to how degraded America has become.   But that too is for another time.

The families and friends of those murdered should not be in the middle of religious, psychological or political debates.  They should not be click bait for internet trolls.  This behavior is beyond disgusting.

What then, do they need to hear?

They need to hear us say that we know this is an unspeakable loss and tragedy.  It is a loss that cannot be calculated.  Not a day will go by for the rest of their life where they will not feel the loss.  It is an insult not to realize this.  We must, as the Word of God says, “weep with them that weep.”  Jesus wept at the grave of Lazarus—feeling the sorrow of Martha and Mary—even though He would raise Lazarus from the dead.

We must tell them that we do not know how they feel.  How can we?  Even those of us who have suffered great loss cannot possibly say we know how this horror is crashing into their souls.  We must tell them how sorry we are for a loss we can’t imagine.

God didn’t do this.  Telling them this is the hardest part.  Jesus settled the question when He instructed us on how to pray: “Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.”  These words presuppose that, in many ways, and in many situations, God’s will is not being done on Earth.

We must let them express their anger toward God but we must not discredit God.  They will soon be reaching out to Him.  We cannot cut off that lifeline.

Lastly, we must admit the existence of evil.  This shooter still at large chose evil.  He willingly surrendered to the dark undertow of evil.  Don’t blame his upbringing.  Plenty of us have had horrendous childhoods and didn’t resort to mass murder.  This was pure evil.

For me to appropriate this massacre as a sermon on America’s decadence would also be wrong.  That comes later.  The right thing to do is for the nation to wrap its collective arms around these innocent people in the grip of unrelenting sadness and grief.

Even if citizens and politicians cannot find common ground on political issues, they can search out common ground in the manner they engage with each other. 

For now, the nation can unite in prayer and care for victims and their families. 

They can support those who mourn the loss of loved ones and they can try to bring about greater peace even amidst the chaos caused by such unconscionable evil.”  Amen