I guess to say that this week we are all Hokies is a little trite. But it is bears witness to the truth that in tragedy we are all one.
This week’s events in Blacksburg have been unbelievably awful. I have spent the last couple of days just trying to fathom what could prompt someone to commit such an act. This wholesale careful and directed violence at an indiscriminate number of people is just unbelievable.
I have been watching with great interest the news from Blacksburg. In particular I have been watching for news of friends who may have been students there. You see, I was a youth minister for 4 years in Richmond Virginia, very much a part of Tech’s watershed. I knew lots of young people who were leaving for Tech and hoping to go to tech, but I hate to admit that I haven’t kept track of who has gone where. Four and half years in New York, I guess, will do that to you.
I have been relieved to see that no one I knew was mong the dead. But many, many families that I know will grieve this tragedy. To all among the more immediate Tech family, I offer my prayers. Please know that divided by distance we are still united in grief and prayer with you.
In this Easter season in the face of this horrible tragedy I pray that we will remember that "Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and giving life to those in the tomb." (BCP. 483)
