Thoughts & Reflections on Nashville
An abbreviated version of a church-wide email to Grace Pres. Stillwater
Dear Members of Grace Presbyterian Church,
It is very hard to know how to start out an email in light of these events. For many of us, there is a combination of despair, fear, anger, and pain. The events that transpired on Monday morning in Nashville, Tennessee at Covenant Presbyterian Church and School are truly a tragedy. This particular tragedy hits close to home for RUF and the PCA.
Like our church, Covenant Presbyterian Church is a PCA church. Two of the ministers on staff (Chad Scruggs & Ryan Anderson) are both former RUF Campus Ministers. Even this past Summer, Chad came to speak at our National Staff Training for RUF. Covenant Presbyterian Church has a major influence in the PCA and RUF. Some of you might even have some connections to the church or school.
Satan has reared his head to strike against the Bride of Christ. Sin seized the opportunity to lash out. In the book of Genesis and throughout the Bible, there is a major theme of Satan's lineage attacking the Godly lineage. We see this quickly after The Fall when the very first human physical death in world history (Genesis 4) was when Cain murdered Abel. Sadly, this week we have been reminded that Satan is still a "prowling and roaring lion, seeking someone to devour" (1 Pet. 5:8).
There are 7 dead including 3 children, 3 staff members, and the shooter. One of those victims was Hallie Scruggs, 9-year-old daughter of Senior Pastor of Covenant Church Chad Scruggs. As a current Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) Campus Minister, it is hard to see another former RUF Campus Minister’s daughter die and a church attacked.
During these attacks, Chad Scruggs was faithfully attending to the business of the Nashville presbytery. Dr. George Grant is the Pastor of Parish Presbyterian Church and was with Chad for this presbytery committee meeting that happened when the attacks occurred. In his recent blog post, he describes the events:
"There was little portent of what the unfolding of the day might bring. Several committees had gathered and were diligently working on preparations for the upcoming stated meeting of the Nashville Presbytery. The senior pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church, Chad Scruggs, was in one room, and several of his elders were in the next room over...Suddenly, unexpectedly, our deliberations were interrupted by a flurry of calls and texts: there was an active shooter at Covenant’s school facility. We emptied into the hallway, stricken, eyes clouded with unbelief, horror, and grief. Spontaneous cries of supplication and intercession went up. The Covenant men hurried on their way back to the church. The rest of us began frenzied monitoring of the news while contacting our own flocks and families to mobilize prayer...Just hours after the shooting, Pastor Scruggs spoke of his beloved daughter Hallie, expressing both the hope and the comfort of the Gospel, 'Through tears we trust that she is in the arms of Jesus who will raise her to life once again.'"
Events such as these might tempt us to have several responses. We might be tempted to react in anger or hatred. Let me encourage all of us (myself included) to exhibit wisdom, grace, and prayerfulness during this time.
In what remains, I would like to provide some reflections for us to think about:
There are no sinners who are too far off for Jesus to save (Luke 7:36-50). This is why we should keep calling all people, no matter how long they've been running away, to come to Christ by grace through faith. For we were all living in sin and death until Christ saved us (Rom. 5:12-21; Eph. 2:1-3). I don’t care what sin or lifestyle someone embraces or how far down that path they’ve gone. Anyone can be saved by Jesus! Oh, that we might call sinners to embrace the grace in Jesus Christ! This is not an “us vs. them” moment. This is a moment where we hold out the same Savior who is capable of saving all types of people. We do not respond in hate. We respond in holding out Christ to the very people who persecute us.
Sin is evil. We need to repent and believe in Christ because our hearts are just as evil. Praise be to God that He has conquered our sin. Even when we wrestle and fight against sin we can know that Jesus has won the war (Rom. 6-8). We don’t need to fear our sin as being stronger than Jesus (Rom. 6) but we should be humbled to see that our sinful hearts are all capable of destruction were it not for the grace of God. This should lead us to dependence on His grace rather than our works.
The only persecution that God allows to the Church is what He will use for our good and His glory (Rom. 8:28-39). Satan is on a leash (Rev. 20) and cannot utterly destroy the Church. God knows how to bring “redemptive reversal” to the most evil situations. We will suffer but our suffering will lead to our triumph.
We do not need to interpret this act as God’s justice upon Covenant Pres. for some hidden sin. As mentioned this past Sunday, God’s wrath was poured out on Jesus rather than the Bride of Jesus. We need to be much slower to interpret suffering and tragedies. At bare minimum, in God’s strange providence, God will use this to save and sanctify sinners.
We need to pray for these families and friends. The future of Covenant Presbyterian Church will be hard. Parents have lost a child. Siblings have lost a sibling. Friends have lost a friend. Children have lost a parent. But, heaven is a reality! For the believers who died, they have passed through the veil to enter into the perfect presence of the Lord of glory! 2 Corinthians 5:8 says, "Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord." Hallie Scruggs and other believers who died are present with the Lord of Glory! Tragedy for us yet triumph for them. We mourn and we should mourn. Yet, not without hope (1 Thess. 4:13).
Colossians 2:15 is very encouraging right now. "He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him." Revelation 12:15 is also a reminder of what is happening in this world. "The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea." Nevertheless, we fight a defeated foe. We are no longer engaged in a full-on war but we are engaged in fierce battles. Even after WWII was ended, battles still had to be fought. So in the Christian life, the war was won by the Incarnation, birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ our Lord. But, we still put on His Armor (Eph. 6) to fight these battles until we are called home.
How does 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 make sense? "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." How can Paul say that these afflictions are light? Is he being insensitive to what we're going through? Actually, what's happening here is that Paul has seen a vision of what heaven will be like (2 Cor. 12). Jesus is speaking through Paul here and He is telling us that as awful and tragic as our lives may be, the glory we will experience in heaven will be so amazing and so beautiful and so everlasting that no tragedy in our lives can compare to what's ahead. As bad as this situation is, think of how amazing heaven is currently for the believers who died and for the believers who will one day die!
This is why we need theology. Our theology is our worldview. Nevertheless, it is not helpful at all to carelessly use Bible verses on issues without having a heart for what's going on. We must speak the truth in love (Eph. 4). Love without truth is hypocrisy. Truth without love is brutality. We need both truth and love! It is our theology that helps us interpret these events more accurately. It is also our theology that brings the gospel of grace into such horrible events. This is why we must continue to go back to the Scriptures again and again to find truth and love in Jesus Christ.
Let us not let sinful fear reign. Satan loves to cause us to fear. He wants us to fear what could happen to us. He wants us to fear speaking the truth in love. He wants us to fear coming to church to worship. He wants us to fear our sin as being greater than God's grace. Let me remind us that the most frequent command in Scripture is "Fear not." God is our Protector and Keeper. Let us fear Him more than we fear others.
If anyone is in need of pastoral counsel, please do not hesitate to reach out to the pastors or the elders here at Grace. Moments like this can at times cause us to struggle with anxiety and despair, and we would love to be available for anyone who is seeking counsel.
In Christ,
Wilson Van Hooser