Meditation on the time in between

Meditation and the time in between

Tomorrow we will have a brief service of remembrance for all those killed in the
Von Maur shooting. We are taking the lead in cooperation with other campus
ministries, including Catholic Campus Ministries, who are interested in this
time of prayer, reflection, community and hope. The service is at MBSC in the
fireplace lounge at noon. We invite you to join us.

We are in an in between time. The deaths have been catalogued and the funeral
services planned. Some will be completed today or very soon. We are in a time in
between death and final resting.

We are in an in between time as well because even though a person is buried,
their memory does not end. Families will cherish time spent together. Families
will remember the joy of life in years gone by. We are in between because of
memory.

We are also in an in between time because the events of last week are rippling
across our country, and perhaps our world. Yesterday, four people were gunned
down by shooters at a mega church in Colorado Springs, and a missionary training
center outside Denver, CO; a bomb threat was sent to a Von Maur store in
Minneapolis, MN. But even in these events, there is hope. We do not quit on
life.

Partly, I suppose, we do not quit on life because of the resilient character of
human nature. We continue to hope in and build for the future. Also, we do not
quit on life and hope because we are like saints in the world, looking into the
eyes of those around us and “seeing Jesus.” We are profoundly the people of
compassion and love. I see this compassion in the responders. It is visible in
the compassion of those walking past the makeshift memorial, and hope through
compassion is visible as persons make donations to the families involved to ease
the financial crunch, which is inevitable.

I encourage you to view the compassion welling up in our community and to not
give in to the easy cynical and hopelessness deaths bring, whether in Omaha and
elsewhere. We are a people hope; we do not easily give up. We are God’s people.



From Psalm 139:vss 7-12

Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there,
If I take the wings of the morning
And settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
Even there your hand shall lead me,
And your right hand shall hold me fast.
If I say, “surely the darkness shall cover me,
And the light around me become night,”
Even the darkness is not dark to you
The night is as bright as the day,
For darkness is as light to you.