This week has been a week which is beyond the imagination of many in the West. A week of violence, death and barbarity, which has seen a Christian singer shot dead whilst signing autographs in Orlando, a policeman and his wife shot dead in France, 49 people killed by one man at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, and, just yesterday, a serving UK MP shot dead going about her job of meeting constituents and hearing their concerns, for the first time in over a quarter of a century. It is a list of death and destruction, the like of which seems foreign and unintelligible.
When faced with violence, suffering and death, to where, or to whom, can we turn? Who can we trust, where can we find hope? Many of us might turn to our friends, loved ones, and members of our community. That’s natural. And yet one of the most shocking things about some of the events this week is that there was nothing to alert the victims to the danger posed by their killers.
Christina Grimmie was shot as she signed autographs, it is likely that when the killer approached her table, at first glance, before he pulled his weapon, he seemed like another fan seeking an autograph. No particular reason to view him as an adversary.
It has been reported that Omar Mateen, the killer at Pulse nightclub, was a frequent visitor to the nightclub, and a user of gay dating apps. We don’t know the motive, and speculation will bring us no relief. However, in a nightclub for the LGBT community, seeing another regular, who also used LGBT apps, would not have raised alarm bells. LGBT clubs have always been a safe-haven to the LGBT community. This makes this horrific attack all the more shocking.
At these times, where it seems that no one can be assumed to be safe, no one can be assumed to be trustworthy, to whom can we turn? It is a question which has been asked throughout the centuries,and even in the Psalms.
Psalm 55 expresses the psalmist’s sense of despair at “violence and strife in the city”, betrayal by his “companion” and “own familiar friend”. The psalmist trusts God for justice, redemption and calls upon God to deliver him. He commends us to
“Cast your burden upon the Lord and he will sustain you, and will not let the righteous fall forever.” (Psalm 55:22)
There comes a point at which human justice is insufficient or incapable of bringing us true justice when we suffer as the result of evil. It might be that the hurt is not covered by human law, yet that doesn’t diminish the human pain. Sometimes, as is the case for both the incidents in Orlando, the one committing evil evades human justice through death.
And yet Christianity gives us reason to be sure of justice, whether human justice has been evaded or not. Our God is a God of justice. He is also a God of forgiveness. God ensures that suffering is paid for, either by the one who caused it or by God Himself, through Jesus. It is this assurance of justice that allows the psalmist, and us, to trust God in the midst of betrayal and violence.
The prayer at the end of Psalm 55 in Common Worship: Daily Prayer seems particularly pertinent this week:
Lord, in all times of fear and dread, grant that we may so cast our burdens upon you, that you may bear us on the holy wings of the Spirit to the stronghold of your peace, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Let us make this our prayer for our nation and world, and hold onto the hope of justice that goes beyond our own abilities.
repairerofwalls 