I am writing this less than 24 hours after the massacre at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, TX, and 11 days following a hate-filled rampage that slaughtered 10 Black people in a Buffalo, NY grocery store. Reading in John 15 that those who abide in Jesus will have whatever they ask is difficult to process at the moment. If the richest nation on earth was measured by the number of children living with food insecurity, domestic violence, lack of adequate housing, little to no mental health support, unmitigated gun violence, or the 30 plus K-12 mass shootings in less than six months, an epic failure would be found. None of that includes those reeling from the impact of mass criminalization, drug addiction, poverty, or the difficulties navigating everyday life as a member of an American lower caste (often defined by not being white, protestant, cis, and hetero). Whether the direct victims are adults or not, children pay the price. This leads me to wonder where are those abiding in Jesus and why haven’t they asked for an all-stop?

Where are the people who love their neighbor enough to put their bodies on the line in protests, advocate before governments, or create room in leadership for all people? Where are the support teams offering food, water, consensual hugs, babysitting services, financial contributions, listening ears, and watchful eyes for those on the ground? Jesus lived life in a bronze body that intimately held markers of being a child refugee, adult life as a carpenter, and final years in ministry opposing an empirical government that eventually sanctioned his murder; yet he stayed the course of an embodied love. Though one may feel alone, powerless, or as if best efforts will never be enough, the command remains. May those who have chosen to abide in Jesus find hope in the promise to receive what has been asked and stay the course. May those struggling with how to abide in their life start with a love in action that causes no harm.