We are needed.

The heartbreaking tragedy that occurred in Connecticut this past Friday shows us that this is the time for those of us who are followers of Christ - His Church - to step up. More. We are needed.

Yes, there need to be stricter gun laws. And through this situation, as well as through situations closer to me in my own life, I've seen how crucial it is that there be more education and assistance around mental healthcare. 

But there also needs to be more of an acknowledgment that personal, unresolved issues, broken families, and our broken, violent culture contribute to tragedies like we saw on Friday.

I'm reading more and more about the divorce of Adam Lanza's parents and how hard it was on him, about his brother who hadn't talked to him in two years, about his fascination with his mother's guns.....and all this shows how NEEDED the Church is. It is the Church that can bring the peace, redemption, and healing of Christ to broken individuals, families, and entire cultures - preventing future tragedies from occurring.

There are deeper things going on than the need for more gun control (although again, that is an important discussion that needs to be had as well). But we as the Church NEED to help our culture address these deeper issues. We need to talk with those around us about the devastating effects of broken families and violent media; we need to more actively love our neighbors, involving ourselves in the brokenness, providing the community and support struggling parents might need, talking about and being an example of the wholeness God desires for us.

And we as the Church can also feed the deeper longing that all people have - a desire for a greater world, one without pain or injustice or violence. In Christ we have a hope that WILL be realized - He created us with a longing for something better because He wants to give it to us. In Christ we not only can experience healing now, but our hope in something better can be realized - as this season of Advent reminds us, Christ came for us and IS coming again someday to make all things new. He will walk with us and establish His peace and justice forever. He will one day put the world completely to right again.

This is why the Church must lead the way in our broken culture, bringing Christ's healing to the deeper issues that perpetuate the violence, and bringing the hope of the Kingdom that will come.