There are no unwounded students, staff, or citizens in Michigan today. 

We are all mourning the deaths of 3 teenagers, gunned down at their school in Oxford. We are all saying prayers. Reaching out to friends there. And we parents are all giving our kids extra hugs.

And after the police tape comes down, the memorial services are held, and school starts back up again, sooner or later the mourning gives way to the questions we all ask: why did God allow a teenager to shoot and kill his classmates? Where was God when those victims needed protecting? What kind of world has God created that allows this kind of violent tragedy?

If there were one good, easy answer we would have heard it by now. 

If there was one, readily and universally accepted answer, we wouldn't be asking these questions. (BTW if you've found one good, easy answer, don’t believe it…)

Of course there’s not one.

Instead, there are theories. 

Lots of them.

Theologians and philosophers call the subject theodicy. And if you Google it you can find a lot of different answers from ‘Everything is God’s will’ to ’There is no God.’ I’ve found Richard Rice’s book, Suffering and the Search for Meaning especially accessible and helpful.

Nonetheless, when we ask the question, ‘Where is God in Oxford?’ I respond by saying - ‘Right in the middle of it - comforting the bereaved, strengthening the caregivers, and working for justice around the questions of gun safety and mental health access.'

If we start from the supposition that ‘God is love’ as the Bible defines God - then deduce that love necessitates a freedom of choice - a free will - then consider the words in John 15:15, that God doesn’t just call us disciples but friends - on an equal par - to partner with God in the healing of the world - then we can approach this complex and thorny subject with a particular answer. 

That answer is that while God loathes violence like this, it is allowed under God’s loving gift of freedom. And that egregious violations of this freedom invite us to partner with God to take action - to comfort the hurting, assist the injured, and to work for change in how we live together, doing our best to ensure this never happens again.

In this season of Advent, Christians await the miracle of God’s love - as God becomes human in Jesus and dwells with us. God is not far away and removed from pain, but God suffers with us. God knows what it’s like to lose a child, just as God knows what it’s like to work for justice and change.

If God is in Oxford doing God’s part in putting back the broken pieces, then we’re invited to play our part in doing the same.