Hello Friends,

I was researching the Colorado church killer last night, trying to understand a little better how a young person could be so angry to do what he did. As a parent, I am deeply saddened for the family of the murdered people, as well as for the family of the young man who did it. As a member of a spiritual community, it raised questions for me like, "Why didn't others see this situation brewing?" and "How can we prevent something like this from happening where we worship?"

I found a very interesting site listing all of his internet postings in one place. If you read what he posted these past few months, it is very sad. Perhaps one of the most telling entries is about 3/4 of the way down the page, in "entry #9" where he writes a poem about abuses he suffered. In reading his twisted words, perhaps we can all learn something from this senseless tragedy. His frame of mind does not justify his horrific actions, but perhaps it will help us understand how these things can happen. By understanding, hopefully, we can identify problems earlier in our spiritual communities, and do what we can to help those suffering from mental illness before they get this far...

http://allspinzone.com/wp/2007/12/11/matthew-murray-nghtmrchld26in-his-own-words/

To me, one of the greatest tragedies in all of this, is that any religion can be a source of comfort, of peace, and of healing, or it can be a source of strife and pain. IMHO, each religion holds a promise, if we use it to inspire us for good purposes. Like any gift, with "great power comes great responsibility". Religion can build communities, strengthen families, and bring peace to neighborhoods. It can also do exactly the opposite. We can use it to heal, or use it to hurt. I believe our intention, and our conscience, are key to knowing if we are on the right path.

I ask all of my dear, spiritual friends and family, from many different faiths, to join me in meditation or prayer (whatever is acceptable to you), in this time of reflection. Together, we can use this opportunity to be reminded to use our respective faiths to lessen the suffering of others. Whatever our faiths, where G-d's name is used (in vain) to cause pain instead of healing, let us make the necessary corrections, and do what we can to enable healing. Let us rededicate our efforts toward LOVE. Together, we CAN make a difference in how religion is used in this world.

With loving thoughts and prayers for all of the families who were affected,
Nancy


Prayer for Compassion ~

Lord, help us to remember that others don't always see the way we do, hear what we hear, feel what we feel, or understand things the way we've come to understand them. You give each of us gifts that are uniquely ours but so often we fail to value the gift in another, judging other gifts as wrong or somehow less important than our own. Give us the compassion you want us to have, and teach us to embrace each other with compassionate arms, no matter what our age, color, creed, history, or belief. Help us to remember that you are Life Itself, and that you are using every one of our unique gifts to bring us together with you once again.

Amen

(prayer from http://www.revisionsplus.com/kmurray.html)


Wise words from the "Veleveteen Rabbi" website, applied to this tragedy, in regard to the two churches affected:

"May they be graced with wisdom, compassion, and the ability to move their communities forward toward justice and toward peace. Amen."

This doesn't fit the description of "another church shooting." It's a shooting that happened near a church. Big difference. The headline for this post is quite misleading and seems to be unnecessarily sensational.

While the news media reacts with "shock" at the events transpiring, they are solely responsible for the "copycat" reactions to their news stories. Reporting the news is one thing, but the intensity of coverage is so frequent and so violent that it serves as a platform for spontaneous recreation of the events reported, especially when it incites those who are mentally ill and predisposed to repeating what they are exposed to. Why should the news media pretend to be "shocked" by circumstances they created by over-reporting? The real predator is corporate American news organizations who profit (financially) by using "shock value" as a pretense for responsible reporting.

America is obsessed with a spirit of death. The spirit of death does not play by rules. Once you let it in willingly via abortion, mercy killings, etc it moves very quickly, passionately, and consistently into as many areas of our lives as possible to do what it does best, kill. It goes out into the streets initiateing drive by shootings, it gets into the minds of unstable people prompting them to go to the mall, school, or church and open fire. It gets into the greedy hearts of manufacturers encouraging them to keep dumping more and more deadly chemicals in our food so that we will die much earlier than we would have otherwise. The spirit of death is Not our friend. It has ONE goal-to KILL, anyway it can. Look at the cancer, murder, and aids stats. Look at how many people are dying before there time. And we think we have the spirit of death confined to the abortion clinics. That is a joke and the jokes on US.