Last week's tragedy at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut stunned our whole nation and has called forth many efforts to understand what happened and how best to respond.  I, for one, thought immediately of Job.  He wanted God to address him in the midst of his sufferings.  Once this eventually happened Job was overwhelmed by God and so stated:  "behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer You?  I lay my hand on my mouth."  Sometimes there is nothing to say.  We rather wait in silence, in dust and ashes, and listen to God's Word, pray to Him, and mourn this poor life of labor and our own lowly lives.

As Christians we confess that this is God's world.  Yet everytime something tragic happens God is called to give an account.  We know that this is not how God made the world and yet this is how God's world *is* at the present moment.  Spiritually speaking there are a number of reasons to point out:  the devil is opposed to God and so wreaks havoc wherever and however he is able.  We must also acknowledge that we, as sinners, bring destruction to ourselves and others (even children) by our own sins.  The secretary of the LCMS has a blog post that points to the tragedy of abortion as one of the spurs toward a violent and low view of women and children among our whole society.  The tone of his post is pastoral and calm and can be found at http://www.wmlt.org

God be with the families in Connecticut and our own families and school as well.  Today is December 17 and the first day of the great "O Antiphons," the first of which has to do with divine Wisdom.  God's Wisdom sets in order all things in all creation and it is only the Wisdom of God that can bring comfort to our grief, understanding to those dealing with senselessness, and order out of chaos.