The following newsletter was written and sent out in response to the tragic mass shooting in Uvalde Texas. The purpose of this newsletter was to encourage people to channel their emotions around the shooting into a posture of curiosity, rather than hostility: inviting people to build relational bridges.
In all things, curiosity
This week will be remembered. Increasingly, our world seems to be tightening the interval between tragedies. Personally, it’s sometimes difficult for me to know what to think … or how to think … when genuinely terrible things happen. The shooting in Uvalde is a terrible thing. The shooting in Buffalo just a few weeks ago is a terrible thing. The slow descent of Ukraine into chaos is a terrible thing. This list goes on and on. And with each one, the voices in various outlets and platforms seem to get louder and louder.
There are a lot of emotions, justifiably. There’s a lot of frustration and anger, justifiably. It’s appropriate for our spirits to be churned when tragedy happens, and it’s appropriate for us to grieve alongside those who have been affected. Sometimes it’s appropriate for us to engage each other in conversations about how these events make us feel and even what we think needs to happen about them, and sometimes it’s appropriate for us to disengage.
Last week, our Pastor shared a message with us where his concluding point was an encouragement to approach people who sit outside our comfort zone with curiosity. Last weekend, I could not have anticipated how timely and challenging it would be to practice this advice. It’s difficult to practice a posture of curiosity when emotions are running high — but the beautiful heart behind curiosity is that it forces us to slow down enough to listen to what’s being said and felt. It’s not about agreeing with each other or being persuaded in any particular direction. It’s about humanizing your neighbor and remembering — sometimes even rediscovering — that they too are loved by God. I will be the first to admit that curiosity is hard to practice when I’m overwhelmed, but I can also promise you that the Spirit moves powerfully in this practice.
If you’re a parent and you’ve been wrestling with how to engage your children about the events of this week, I encourage you to read the newsletter that our Children’s Pastor sent out to parents this week. The wisdom in her words has been beneficial to my wife and I, and is worth taking a few short minutes to read through them. If you know any parents outside of our church that would benefit from her words, I encourage you to share them.
It’s also appropriate for us to disengage and withdraw from the larger conversation — especially if we find ourselves overwhelmed by them. Sometimes, God wants us to remove ourselves from the chaos of the moment and emotion to help us hear Him better. If you find yourself in this place, I encourage you to practice solitude with God in the way that serves you best.
My prayer is that you press into God and invite Him to guide your response in all things — including the terrible events of this week. And if you have family or friends who have lost loved ones in service to our country, I pray that you have the opportunity to remember them well this Memorial Day.
We look forward to seeing your beautiful faces this weekend as we gather to learn, explore, connect, and experience God together at church.