Our Need for Grace

Our Need for Grace

What I wrote below refers to a news story from 5 months ago.

How are we to know how to feel about 10 amish girls being shot, 5 of them being killed?

There seems to two broad categories one can fall into from a spiritual/christian perspective:

1. God is good and he has a plan. We must trust that even when we don't understand everything.

2. How could a good, loving, and all powerful God allow such an abominable thing to happen?

Honestly, I often find myself falling into the second category. My church prayed for schools before this tragedy. Before the Amish event, there have been a rash of school shootings. Every week our church takes a few minutes to pray. This week we decided to pray for shools. It feels sickly ironic that something like this happens after we prayed to a loving God about protecting our children.

The option of #1 that I hear from many christians feels fake. Who are we fooling? Is it comforting to believe that we have a good God no matter what? Does it somehow ease our insecure souls to think that God can do no wrong?

What I've been experiencing the past couple days makes me believe there is a 3rd option. What has been the reaction of the Amish community after having 10 young girls shot? Forgiveness. Grace. By grace I don't mean the cheap counterfeit version we often use: "I will be nice to you even though you're late because well, I'm gracious." Or, "It's ok that you lied to me. I forgive you(just don't do it again)."

Examples of Grace:

-A 13-year-old Amish girl killed by the gunman in the Lancaster County schoolhouse reportedly asked to be shot first in an attempt to buy time for the younger students.

-At a time when money has been pouring in for people supporting the Amish, they are asking for it to be redirected to the killers' family. They say that his wife and the people close to the killer are suffering more than they are.

-The grandfather of one of the girls was interviewed during the funeral:

"Is there anger towards the gunman's family?" asked a reporter.

"No," said the grandfather.

"Have you forgiven?"

"In my heart, yes."

"How is that possible?"

"Through God's help."


So when you're letting someone slide for cutting you off in traffic, don't call it grace. You're being nice yes I'll give you that but grace is radical. It goes against all of our deepest instincts.

After getting past my intial reactions and shock, I am able to see this third option as a possible reaction. The trite christian rhetoric of the first response doesn't fit. The hopeless of the second doesn't feel fitting either. The amish response brings a 3rd option, rising above the other two. A midwife, who delivered two of the victims, said it best:

"A battle between God and the devil had taken place in that classroom - and God won."