End of Innocence -- Beginning Of?

You probably remember the song written by Bruce Hornsby and performed by Don Henley, with some extra lyrics added by Henley, entitled The End of the Innocence.  In the wake of the Newtown, Connecticut, Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, this song title moves us to think of the huge impact of that event.

The tune begins:                                    

“Remember when the days were long
And rolled beneath a deep blue sky
Didn't have a care in the world
With mommy and daddy standing by
When "happily ever after" fails
And we've been poisoned by these fairy tales….”

Yes, “happily ever after” failed in Sandy Hook and really it failed across the world through this heinous act of the slaughter of twenty of our youthful innocent and six of their caretakers. Similar events in the not too distant past return to our minds, causing us to wonder what it’s all about and if there is anything we can do to prevent these things from happening in the future.

The song continues:                                           

“O' beautiful, for spacious skies
But now those skies are threatening……”

Now our thinking deepens and we examine our country, our culture and our faith. All of our faults as a people start rising to the top of our thinking.  We ponder, ‘What could have been different that would have prevented this.’ Is this event more than just the act of a mentally ill person? How was this overlooked by parents, teachers, coaches, doctors and others.

Finally, since all else has seemed to fail, we turn to our Creator God for comfort and understanding. This is the point when healing and spiritual redirections begin to move us in a more positive way.  We are reminded of and act out our call to “Love one another”. The whole world begins to wrap its arms around the Sandy Hook community. As we saw in the memorial service in Sandy Hook, multiple denominations and religions were represented and prayed in each of their ways for Godly comfort.

Jesus tells us in John 10: 27-30, “²⁷My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.²⁸I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.²⁹What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand.³⁰The Father and I are one.”

My most significant experience in understanding God's Love and Grace came out of chaos. The prayers of my Christian Community and my own prayers brought about a revelation to me from God through His Spirit. He gave me a peace in which I was not concerned about living or dying, but joyful in the knowledge of His Eternal Kingdom. This was for me a blessing that confirmed His Word, the Gospel, that I may have sometimes doubted or questioned.  A greater sensitivity for my need to seek God's Will in my life and in the World came upon me and my listening skills began to improve greatly concerning Him.

St. Paul says in his letter to the Romans 8:38-39 “³⁸For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,³⁹nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”                                                                              

We started with a song that ends with:         

“Offer up your best defense
But this is the end
This is the end of the innocence.”

Maybe events like the Sandy Hook shootings are the end of the innocence for many children and for many of us, but the “Best Defense” is a new beginning of our lives and how we relate to our God and to one another.  Our innocence in some sense is our not including God in all things and only turning to Him when we’re hurting.  Either way He listens and guides us if only we will learn to listen to Him.