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Health & Fitness

Reflecting on the Boston Marathon Bombings

Events like yesterday's bombing remind us, that things are "not the way they are supposed to be" - and not just on a minor scale, but also on a larger one. But we are not alone.

As I am writing this the death toll after yesterday’s bombings stands at three dead, while dozens are injured. Doctors, nurses and hospital staff continue to attend to their needs, as do chaplains, friends, and family members. The perpetrators of this heinous crime are still unknown.

When events like these touch our lives, we are often at loss for words. We feel angry, hurt, lost, and deeply wounded on a personal level. We feel sad and sore. I ask that you be gentle with yourself and your feelings these few days. They are natural reactions to something which in theological language we call “sin” or even more to the point “death.” Events like these remind us, that things are “not the way they are supposed to be” –not just on a minor scale, but also on a larger one. We struggle, sometimes feeling like we are grasping in the dark, trying to understand and answer the question of “WHY?”

As a pastor allow me to assure you that even though it is graphic, and loud, and profound, evil and the powers of evil were not the only forces at work on that day in Boston. In fact, they were so loud because they know their time is up, and with every prayer and good deed their time is coming to a definite end. In this Easter season allow me to remind you that our hope, our faith, our comfort is in Jesus Christ, the Risen Lord, who has defeated death and sin through death, and gives to all life eternal. We might not see it yet, we might not feel it yet, but events like these should not be given the satisfaction of making us forget that evil in this world will be, and indeed has been defeated.

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In these coming days I would suggest we all pray: pray for the victims and their families; pray for the doctors, nurses, the first responders, the marathon runners who ran to the hospital to donate blood to those injured; pray for all victims of violence around the world, the ones we hear about, and the ones that are too insignificant to make it to the media; pray for peace – “far removed from human sight is the time when war and discord on this Earth will cease – but every prayer for universal peace avails the blessed time to expedite.” Finally, I plead with you, find it in your heart to pray for the author(s) of this horrific crime whoever they (he/she) might be –that God might visit their hearts, show them the evil and harm they had done, and deliver them from the powers of evil and hate. It is only love and peace and gentleness that will heal and redeem this broken and dying world.

If you are in need of pastoral care – I urge you to please call me or email me. Also tomorrow, from 9 AM to 10 AM the sanctuary of First Church in Marlborough will be open for private prayers for peace and healing – I will also be there to pray with you.

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I hope that as you go about your lives in these next few days, you will draw strength and courage from the words of the “Heidelberg Catechism”:

"What is our only comfort in life and in death? That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Savior Jesus Christ; who, with his precious blood, has fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil.”

This is no small hope.

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