This week our town suffered an incredible tragedy. It was an ordinary January morning one moment, and the next moment the world was turned upside as our beloved police chief Ralph Painter was shot and killed responding to a call where a young man was reportedly attempting to steal a car. Our town is small, only 1700 people. The Chief was the only officer on duty that morning, responding to the call alone. As events unfolded there was a scuffle, and the Chief was shot and killed with his own service revolver. The suspect, also wounded, was taken into custody.
In tragedies like this one question is always asked, "Why?" This question can be a catalyst to improvements in procedures that will benefit emergency response in the future. Arriving at answers to this kind of "Why?" is a good thing for everyone.
The more difficult question to answer is the spiritual question, "Why?" Delving into this question can be a good thing if it causes people to take stock of their own lives and makes needed changes, or if it serves as the impetus for a lifelong journey of spiritual learning, just to name a couple examples. Where this questioning can become a bad thing is when no answer that seems to suffice can be found. It is precisely at this point that people often turn away from God and their faith.
We have to remember that we are citizens of two realms. We have one foot on planet Earth and one foot in heaven, in a manner of speaking. We live physical lives in this world, here and now, but the spiritual realm is something we have trouble seeing clearly because it lies outside the physical world we experience every day. Scripture (I Corinthians 13:12, NRSV) says, "...now we see in a mirror dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known..." This is the ultimate description of what it is like for us as humans. We know some spiritual things from our own experience, but the rest is often unclear and hard to access. We get some clues about the spiritual realm from the authors of Scripture and from the descriptions of other writers; but mostly, we find spiritual things difficult to understand, and questions like "Why?" can drive us crazy.
You may find yourself wrestling with questions and not finding answers about the tragic events from this week. We ask questions: Why did Ralph have to die? Did it serve a purpose? Why does it seem that good loses and evil flourishes?; Did God cause Ralph to die? There are many other similar questions as well.
So much of life is seen just as the Scripture describes, dimly, almost like we are looking through a gauzy curtain. We see some things and know what they are by their general shape, but the details remain unclear. The truth is that sometimes we just don't know why things happen, and the best answer seems to be that we just happen to live on an imperfect planet where imperfect people cause imperfect things to happen, and that's just part of our human journey.
In ensuing days and weeks we will find ourselves confused or frustrated, at times, with the many questions that are normal in situations like this because we don't have the answers. Let us give ourselves a break from all that and focus our attention forward to consider the legacy that Chief Ralph Painter has left us. The last few days we have listened to those who knew Ralph speak of the qualities he had that made such an impression on them. We have heard how he was loved by everyone and was loving in return. We've heard of his many kindnesses, his compassion for others, his strong values and his integrity. We have heard of his love for his family and his life of service. These qualities of being are Ralph's legacy to us. May our best testimony to Ralph's legacy be that we strive to emulate his example.
May Eternal Light shine upon Ralph as he enters into the joy of God's Presence; and may God's mercy and love heal us who are left behind. Amen.
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