Discovering the Sacred in Tragedy (Sanctuary South Shore)

There's a cliché that "bad things happen for a reason," and another, "God makes everything work out for good." Of the two, the first is kind of false unless the reason is, "sometimes things suck and people are evil." The second is more true, but also needs the caveat that the bad things aren't what God designs or wants — as far as I know, and I hold that to be very little on average. 

Ten years after the martyrdom of the Emanuel 9, I had the opportunity to be a guest preacher at Sanctuary South Shore in Plymouth, MA, and participate in the sermon series ONE, which this week was about how we find unity in tragedy and attempted division, and come to a deeper understanding of God, ourselves, and each other by giving up on our differences in ways that divide us, and digging into our differences in ways that bring us closer in our common humanity. 

Sanctuary's a young congregation, around fifteen years old, and the newest thriving mission plant in the New England Synod. What they do well is a lot, but in terms of worship, they do a great job at reflecting the depth of liturgical worship-done-well in a supremely casual way.  It was wonderful to be there!