SCHOOL SHOOTING

When I titled this sermon earlier in the week Peaks and Valleys, I intended that it would refer to the peaks and valleys that believers experience based on Noah, Peter, and Mark’s life experiences resulting from their interactions with God – either as the Creator or our Savior, I had no idea that the focus of Americans, and especially people of faith, would lead to question “why?” later in the week. Why is it possible for 17 lives to be snuffed out by an angry former student of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida? Why aren’t “assault weapons” forbidden to ordinary citizens? Why wasn’t “if you see something, say something” followed up in the case of students and faculty members in their response to Nikolas Cruz’s actions in society and on social media?

Many are prone to blame the gun that he used – an AR-15. The haters think that AR in the gun model’s name refers to assault rifle when the truth is that it refers to Armalite Rifle named after the company that developed the AR line of rifles in the 1950’s. Why does a citizen need a weapon used by the military? I respond simply with “the 2^nd Amendment” to the Constitution of the United States. If you want to have a deeper discussion about that subject, see me during the week.

Before we go on, if a madman wants to kill innocent children, he will find a way. Killers don’t need guns to kill people. Timothy McVeigh used fertilizer. 9-11 terrorists used box cutters and airplanes. The Nazis used cyanide gas. Taking guns from innocent people will not protect innocent people. The problem is not guns; it is a Godless society.

Back to the question of “why?”. 

I believe that the answer to why is “the Christian Church”. Edmund Burke once stated that The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. In the case of Nikolas Cruz, good men and women were warned but did nothing.

I’d like to amend Edmund Burke’s statement just a bit to say, The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for Christians to do nothing. How different might Nikolas Cruz’s life been if God were still allowed in schools? It has now been 55 years since prayer and religious instruction were banned from public schools. Just three years after the court decisions that threw God out of the schools, the first atrocity took place on the campus of the University of Texas. Like this past week, 17 souls lost their lives. In the 55 years since the decision to ban God, 197 people have lost their lives on High School and College campuses. Do you believe that the presence of firearms in our country is the reason for all of these killings? I don’t. I believe that the reason is the work of Satan which means the presence of evil in our schools.

AND IT’S OUR FAULT!!!

Yes, I believe that the Body of Christ’s failure to evangelize our world is ultimately the reason for our grief. The Gospel of Mark tells us that “¹⁵ [Jesus] said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. ¹⁶ Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. ¹⁷ And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; ¹⁸ they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

¹⁹ After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. ²⁰ Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.
Of course, we’re all familiar with the Matthew 28 instruction to “Go into all the world and make disciples”. 

How are we doing? I contend that we aren’t doing very well.

Do you remember the attack on our country on 9-11-2001? What did our churches look like for a few months after that? Many were filled to capacity for a while. And then …
Why? What were those people looking for when they showed up at our church doors? Comfort? Courage? Encouragement? Answers? Faith?

And how did the church respond? Did we provide what those hurting neighbors were looking for? Obviously not because they aren’t here anymore. They’ve decided to try it on their own because the church didn’t look any different than the other community clubs. 

We were delighted to welcome new faces into our sanctuaries but didn’t have a plan to keep them. One hour on Sunday morning once or twice a month isn’t enough for most non-believers to grasp the truth of the love that God holds out to each one of us that are willing to receive it. 

As hard as we try, 15 minutes of listening to a preacher expound on God’s love isn’t enough to keep most coming back EVERY week. It takes a change in our mindset as the Church. We need to take an interest in the people that enter these holy spaces every week. We need to get to know them. We need to find out their likes and dislikes. We need to pay attention. We need to love them. The Secret Sister is an example of how we should be treating everyone who walks through our doors – but not only secretly but also outwardly.

Nikolas Cruz was lost. Nikolas Cruz was hurting. Nikolas Cruz was angry. How different might he have turned out if the Christian community had noticed him and taken him under our wings? There are Nikolas Cruzes in our lives every day that we leave the comfort of our homes, folks. Anyone who reads the local news knows that there is a potential Nikolas Cruz in our elementary school right now.

How many have read that news of the disruptive student in the Sandusky Elementary school who was disorderly to the point of violence? Or the 2^nd grader who showed up with was suspected to be cocaine? Prior to 1963 people in the church might have gathered together to pray for these students, their teachers and their families. Often right on school property. Today prayer before school sports is being banned all over the country due to a claim that that sort of activity violates the supposed separation of church and state policies. 

I contend that this failure to impact our communities is because we are only the Church of Jesus Christ when we gather within these four walls. Once we exit these doors we become individuals who don’t look any different than the world that is dying without Jesus. It is our fault that God was expelled from school. It’s our fault because we didn’t speak up. It’s our fault because we allowed it to happen.

Joy Behar on the TV show The View declared that people like our Vice President, Mike Pence, are mentally ill if they believe that Jesus talks to them. What are we going to do about it? Will the cross imprinted on our foreheads this morning stand for anything or will it simply be another religious activity that bears no fruit?

¹⁸ Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. ¹⁹ Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.

Is this what we want for Christ’s Church, folks?