Paging through the victim biographies of the worst mass shooting in our nation’s history didn’t last long because I just couldn’t take it.

A newly minted college grad, a corrections officer, a substitute teacher… such tragedy… such sadness. Why did this happen, who are we to permit this, what will be done to prevent ‘next time’?

Yet this pain isn’t new. There are other tragedies of even greater magnitude - usually because they’re closer to home: the death of a child, a divorce, bankruptcy, or a job loss.

What stands in stark contrast is the Christian notion of joy. Indeed, we are taught that Christians are typified by joy, that Jesus came into the world ‘that our joy may be full,' and that, as St. Paul writes in a text we’ll read Sunday, ‘Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice.’

But then Las Vegas comes around - and how could we possibly 'rejoice always?'

I think it’s because there's a difference between rejoicing and rejoicing in the Lord. 

What I mean is that while there’s no cause for joy in a tragedy, God’s hand is never removed from calamity. In fact, looking for God’s fingerprints, in the circumstances that surround us usually brings joy. For the Lord is present in Las Vegas in the many hands coming to the rescue, in the increased national attention to gun violence prevention, and in the greater appreciation many of us feel, having learned anew about the fragility of human life.

Theologian David Stendl-Rast famously says that happy people are not grateful, but grateful people are happy. Thus, a role in the time of tragedy is to gaze through the lens of gratefulness, looking for God’s fingerprints and nurturing a sense of expectancy at locating the divine presence.

This is cause for you and me to pursue, even moreso, this idea of being ‘in the Lord’ - finding ways to immerse ourselves more completely in the Light, seeking God’s company, looking for Jesus in others, probing the depths of divine love, and being more deeply rooted in the heavenly promises of guidance, protection, and provision.

Trial and tribulation are as present as the air we breathe, finding ways to see God in it all, stands only to help us and the world we seek to serve. Author Anne Lamott says ‘Joy is the best make up’ - may we wear it with a smile.