Reflections on the NIU shootings

Dear Friends,

By now, you've heard of the shootings on the campus of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb.

We are aware of one alumna who serves on the NIU faculty. I have been in touch with her and, thankfully, she is safe. She was in a building next to Cole Hall where the shootings took place and could see the emergency personnel as they responded to the tragedy.

The Lutheran Campus Ministry at NIU could not be in a more central location, caddy-corner from Holmes Student Center and in close proximity to Cole Hall. It is my understanding that the Presbyterian, Methodist and Episcopal Ministries are currently housed at the Lutheran student center which has naturally become a gathering place for students, faculty, staff, families and members of the community. Campus ministry staff of all faith traditions are hard at work tending to the pastoral needs of a community that has been shaken to its core.

I trust that you are keeping the entire NIU community in your thoughts and prayers.

While it may be easy to think that our small expressions can make little difference, nothing could be further from the truth. Time and time again, people who have suffered as the result of violence (9-11, Virginia Tech, etc.) have shared how very much the emails, cards, notes, prayers and expressions of concern have helped to bolster their spirits during these seasons of grief. What may seem a small gesture - when combined with those of many others - amounts to a tidal wave of care. As the baptized people of God, it is appropriate that we participate in such expressions of God's love.

Should you wish to be in touch with the members of the Lutheran Campus Ministry community, you may do so as follows:

The Rev. Diane Dardon

Lutheran Campus Ministry

401 Normal Road

DeKalb, IL 60115

815-756-7700

e-mail dianedardon@gmail.com

I will share that this event is having a deeply personal effect on me.

• My mother earned both her master's degree and doctorate from NIU and we lived on the edge of the campus for a year while Mom took courses toward her doctorate.
• The NIU campus was my playground and I honed my research skills in its library.
• My beloved English teacher from senior year in high school is now a Professor of English at NIU; thanks be to God, he is safe.
• My dearest friend is an NIU alumna and native of DeKalb; her mother is a retired member of the counseling staff who has been called in to care for those affected by the shootings.

My ties to this community are many and my awareness of the landscape acute. I am reminded that, though we often think such tragedies are happening to "someone else," "somewhere else," what affects some affects all; for we are one in Christ.

Tomorrow, when we gather for worship, we will read the reassuring words of Psalm 121:

I lift up my eyes to the hills— from where will my help come?
My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.
He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.
The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.
The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and for evermore.

Amen.

Yours in Faith,
Pastor Sue