December 7, 2007

CHICAGO – The Rev. David L. deFreese, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Nebraska Synod, Omaha, offered a message of hope to the church in response to the Dec. 5 shooting at the Westroads Mall, Omaha, where a 19-year-old man opened fire killing eight people and wounding several others before turning the gun on himself.

"Our community of Nebraska has been confronted with an unspeakable terror," said deFreese. "One of our children, so desperate and despondent, chose death as his response to the pain of living, and (he) also chose to afflict so many others with murderous agony. The horrific events overwhelm us with their senselessness and frightfulness," he said.

"As those who follow Christ," deFreese said, "we grieve together. Sadness permeates this whole event. We ache for those families whose loved ones were so treacherously stolen from their midst."

"We tell the truth. Evil is real. Human brokenness and sin have consequences," said deFreese. "God did not cause this but was present in the midst of the suffering."

"We turn to God, this God who continually turns to us. In this season of ‘Immanuel, God with us,' we recognize anew the tremendous compassion of our God who came, who comes, and who promises to be with us always," said deFreese. "We live with hope. We move forward with purpose. Death and evil do not have the final word. God does," he said.

The Rev. Roger A. Kruger, local coordinator, Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR), said pastors of the ELCA Nebraska Synod "will want to address the Westroads Mall shooting tragedy in worship services this Sunday." Kruger offered words of advice to pastors.

"There are some studies which show that holding many vigils actually increase the levels of acute stress syndrome," said Kruger. Emphasize "the message of hope, especially in the Advent season," he said, adding that pastors can make use of familiar rituals and hymns, allow people who may have been at that mall during the shooting or were relatives and friends of the victims to "retell their stories as often as needed" and "encourage prayers, the letting go that places all things in God's hands."

LDR is a collaborative ministry of the ELCA and Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS). Kruger is a pastor of the LCMS.

The full text of the Rev. David L. deFreese's message is at http://tinyurl.com/2txc46 on the Web.

ELCA News Service