Beyond praying for the people of Newtown, I think.

As long as the first thing we fight for is our individual freedom (to anything), we will end up astray.

As long as safety is our highest goal, we will end up astray.

Saying, “God is in control” raises a series of questions: Which god? In control of what? How is this control manifested? What aspect of God’s control do you see in this event? What is the intended audience of the claim? What perlocutionary effect is sought?

God saw our brokenness and destruction and jumped in feet first, not with a gun or omnipotent, invulnerable rage, but with vulnerable suffering to the point of death on the cross. Jesus was and is and will be God’s definitive word. The more we echo Jesus in our words and actions the more likely we are to get things right.

I remember Dallas Willard saying that God’s objective was to transform us so that it would be safe for us to see our wills fulfilled in the world. We seek to magnify our power without magnifying our skill at love and eliminating our habits of destruction.

Sometimes the best response is the silence of a broken heart.