I have no words… Seriously, I have been rolling all the events of the past couple of weeks around in my head and I have nothing. Now, on the other hand, my heart is full… and not in a good way. It’s full of sorrow, anger, compassion, and fear.
 
Last Sunday during my sermon I listed several tragic things happening in our world right now. The war in Ukraine, the baby formula shortage, a new wave of COVID, daily shootings in Chicago, and the horrific shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York. All of that is enough to send me into a tailspin. And now… just Wednesday, twenty-one people were killed in an elementary school in Texas… nineteen of them were in the fourth grade! On top of that there are many more injured both physically and emotionally. Again, I have no words… I can’t explain it… I don’t have any answers… just questions.
 
That’s all I’ve got friends… the only answer I have right now is that we can be assured of God’s presence through all of this. So, I’ll leave you with the lyrics to a song that comforts my heart and mind at times like this.

Abide with me, fast falls the eventide.
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
help of the helpless, oh, abide with me.

I need thy presence ev’ry passing hour;
what but thy grace can foil the tempter’s pow’r?
Who like thyself my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, oh, abide with me.

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away;
change and decay in all around I see;
O thou who changest not, abide with me.

I fear no foe, with thee at hand to bless;
ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if thou abide with me!

Hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes,
shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies;
heav’n’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
in life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

Text: Henry F. Lyte, 1793-1847

See you Sunday