NOBODY PRAYED FOR HIM

Learning from Terrible Tragedies like Newtown CT

     Adam Lanza killed twenty-eight people on December 14, 2012 in Newtown CT.  He murdered his own mother at home.  He murdered twenty children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School.  He committed suicide.  There was an immediate rush to answer the question, “Why?”  “Why did this happen?”  “Why did this happen to these innocent young children?  “Where does the blame lie?”  “Is it mental illness?”  “Do we blame it on guns?”  We all feel powerless because we don’t know why.  If we knew why, we could prevent something like this from happening again.  It has happened too many times since the Columbine High School Massacre on April 20, 1999.

     Had Adam Lanza not committed suicide would the people of Connecticut be angry that earlier in 2012 they voted to abolished the death penalty?

     People flocked to churches the Sunday following the tragedy.  The clergy in Newtown, CT must have been deluged with questions about why this happened.  Someone came up with what is called “The T-Shirt of the Year” now circulating around social media.  The t-shirt reads, “Dear God, Why do you allow so much violence in our schools.  Signed, A Concerned Student.  Dear Concerned Student, I’m not allowed in schools.  God.”  But, tragedies have happened in churches too where God is not only allow … is worshiped.  So taking praying out of the schools isn’t to blame.

     But I believe prayer or the lack of it plays a role in what does and doesn’t happen in our world.  I think absence of prayer played a role in the life of Adam Lanza and subsequently all of our lives.  We read in the Book of Job 42:8b, “My servant Job will pray for you and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly.” (niv)

     We often hear people talk about their prayer life and how they prayed and made promises to God that they would change their ways.  “Lord, I’m going to give up drinking.”  “Lord, I’m going to stop doing this or that.”  “Lord, I going to church every Sunday from now on.”  And on it goes.  Does this sound familiar?  You’ve either said it or heard it said.  Did you ever stop to consider that somebody else was praying for you?  Bill Withers wrote and recorded the song, “Grandma’s Hands.”  Somebody needs to write about grandma’s prayers.  Many grandmothers have prayed for their grandchildren and God accepted grandma's prayers and not dealt with the grandchildren according to their folly.

     Some men in church whose marriage and family life is going well will tell you, “We are a family that prays together and worships together.”  And on it goes.  I once heard a preacher say, “Marriages would be a lot stronger and last a lot longer if husbands prayed for their wives as often as wives prayed for their husbands.”  In other words, brother, did you ever stop and think that before you became so churchy your wife had been praying for you for a long time?

     After meditating on that Bible passage from Job I am certain that others have prayed for me.  My father, my mother, my wife, my pastor and my friends prayed for me and God accepted their prayers and did not deal with me according to my folly.

     This twenty year old murderer, Adam Lanza, probably had no one praying for him … caring about him … developing a loving relationship with him.  Did he have positive male role models?  Did he have positive male relationships in his life?  I don’t believe so.  Positive male role models and wholesome male relationships are essential for young men to grow into manhood.  It was reported that Adam hadn’t spoken to his own father or brother in two years. “He was a loner,” folks said.

     I focus on male relationships because, have you noticed, women and girls don’t do this?  I don't know of any exceptions and pray there won't be any.

     As one who believes in the efficacy of prayer I’m convinced that the lack of prayer also contributed to this tragedy and others like it.  Nobody prayed for him.  Nobody thought about him.  Nobody reached out to him.  Everyone who knew him left him alone … ignored him … cared only for themselves.  Everyone who knew Adam Lanza was himself or herself mentally ill to some degree.  Mental illness has always existed.  The way we regard and treat mental illness and the mentally ill has changed.  We are too concerned about being politically correct.

     We can try to blame it on guns.  I played with cap pistols when I was a kid.  My folks bought me the Roy Rogers six shooters.  I think I was eleven years old when I shook Hopalong Cassidy’s hand in front of the Daily News building in New York City and received a cardboard replica of his six shooter.  My grandson, Zair Emmanuel Johnson, pictured with me above will probably never play with guns.

     Guns have existed for a long time.  The proliferation of guns has changed.  The types of guns have changed.  Demonstrations of their use have changed.  It seems the availability of guns does play a role in these types of tragedies.  The company that sells the type of weapon used by Lanza, advertises it as a “... Gun for a Man’s Man in an Era of Depleting Testosterone.”  In other words, you are not a real man unless you own one of these.  The second amendment to the United States Constitution says I have the right to bear arms.  Do I have a need to bear arms?  The answer for me is no!

     Psychologists tell us this type of event will happen again.  We don’t want another Sandy Hook, Columbine, Virginia Tech, etc.  There are other men (I hope not women) out there like Adam Lanza or Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris of the Columbine Massacre.  They may or may not be easy to spot.  Be alert.  Be concerned.  Genuinely, care about the people around you and when you suspect someone around you is “different,” pray for him daily.  Develop a relationship.  Tell him the story of Jesus.  Real men pray for others.  Somebody prayed for me.  <><

220th General Assembly of the PC(USA) - My First GA

      I had the privilege of attending the 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA). It was held in Pittsburgh, PA from June 30 through July 7, 2012. When anyone asks me about it I tell them, “It was wonderful!” And it was. The music was wonderful. The preaching was wonderful. Working for God in this, new for me, section of his vineyard was wonderful.
     I had the privilege of representing the Presbytery of New York City as a Ruling Elder Commissioner. There were eight of us from New York City who got to sit in the inner sanctum … holy of holies … inside the dark blue curtain on the Assembly floor. We were six commissioners … Teaching Elders Jose Gonzalez-Colon, Lonnie Bryant, and Mieke Vandersall … Ruling Elders David Ofori, Annie Rawlings, and me … one Young Adult Advisory Delegate Joshua Narcisse and one Theological Student Advisory Delegate Ruling Elder Deborah Mahaney.
     Every committee meeting, plenary session and worship service began with the reading of the scripture, Isaiah 40:38-31.
     Six hundred eighty-eight commissioners and two hundred thirty-one advisory delegates were assigned to twenty-one committees which dealt with one hundred twelve overtures of presbyteries and synods included in the approximately eight hundred items of business the assembly had to deal with.
     When the assembly convened in Plenary on Saturday evening, our first order of business was to elect the Moderators of the 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) who is The Reverend Dr. Neal D. Presa from nearby Elizabeth Presbytery across the Hudson River in New Jersey.
     We did have the unfortunately incident of the moderator’s choice for Vice Moderator, the Reverend Tara Spuhler McCabe, chose to resign amid some controversy surrounding a same-gender wedding in Washington, DC. Personally, I think it is unfortunate that some Presbyterians can’t disagree without being nasty … can’t act more like Jesus. Some of us walk around with rocks in our pockets ready to condemn. The new moderator reluctantly accepted her resignation and named The Reverend Tom Trinidad of the Pueblo Presbytery as the new Vice Moderator.
     In trying to organize a Presbytery of New York City delegation dinner on July 4th Interim Executive Presbyter Tony De La Rosa guessed there may have been at least thirty people from the Presbytery of NYC.
     On Sunday morning twenty-nine Presbyterian congregations invited GA attendees to worship with them. There was luxury bus service to take us to churches not in walking distance of the convention center and hotel area. Approximately sixty of us went to Bidwell Presbyterian Church. While there The Reverend James Foster Reese told everyone that Bidwell is the place of his very first sermon over sixty years ago.
     I was assigned to the Committee on Confessions of the Church. Six members of the committee brought a minority report to the Assembly floor after it failed as a substitute motion in committee. I spoke against in committee and on the floor of the assembly. Speaking at a microphone on the floor of the General Assembly is something I thought I would never do. Never say never.
     What impressed me was the passion and sincerity of the commissioners and advocacy groups. There weren’t the angry outbursts I expected. As far as I could see people treated each other with courtesy and respect. The person who led the group bringing Minority Report came to me later and asked that I forgive her if her action hurt me in any way. We hugged.
     The committee report that took used up the most time was the Committee on Civil Union and Marriage Issues. Discussion on Friday, July 6th lasted from 1:30 PM through 8:30 PM with time out for dinner. There were Minority Reports, amendments, and so on. The Assembly voted to neither re-affirm nor change the denomination’s definition of marriage as “a civil contract between a man and a woman.” The Assembly approved a proposal generated from within the Assembly Committee on Civil Union and Marriage Issues calling for two years of “serious study and discernment” regarding Christian marriage.
     Earlier that day, Interim Executive Presbyter of the Presbytery of New York City, Tony De La Rosa, had the honor of being the only Ruling Elder to preach at one of the worship services.
     Working on the committees and in plenary was really hard but rewarding work. We all met new friends on the committees and sitting near us on the assembly floor. On the final evening, Friday, July 6 our work in plenary didn’t end until 1:30 in the morning. Some committees still had to meet after that. Trying to keep our eyes open and attention focused some were singing praises to Jehovah Java while others want to bow to El Shut Eye.
     What greatly impressed me was the Young Adult Advisory Delegates. They give me hope for the future of the church. Although they were all over the church political landscape they showed the older adults out to live together in harmony and how to work today and worship together without condemning each other.
     There were two other things that greatly impressed me. One was the COLA people … Committee On Local Arrangements. Members of the congregations and staff in Pittsburgh volunteered their time to be present everywhere to help anyone attending GA220. Wearing bright yellow vests with the PCUSA symbol on the back they were at the airport, in the hotel lobbies (and the GA used more than seven hotels), they were on the streets near the convention center, they were all over the convention center. You could ask them anything and they would find a way to help you. The other thing that greatly impressed me was the people in the red t-shirts … the back of the t-shirts read, “We are praying for Yinz.” Yinz in Pittsburgheese means the same as Ya’ll. If you needed prayer you just have to walk up to one of them and they would pray with you or take you to a convenient prayer room for prayer.
     Someone asked me if I would go again. The answer is yes. As a matter of fact my wife and I plan to attend the 221st General Assembly in Detroit, MI in 2014. And yes I would recommend it. Don’t put it on your bucket list. Put it on your Must Do List.
     Just as every session was opened with scripture from Isaiah, every sermon used the same sermon text, Mark 2:1-12. It’s the familiar story about the men who dug a hole in the roof to let down the crippled man to be healed by Jesus. The text ends with Jesus saying, “I say to you, stand up, take up your mat and of to your home.” And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
     And I say of the 220th General Assembly, I have never seen anything like this. It was wonderful! Praise God. <><