"We assume it will not happen to us,
or to people we love."
He spoke this on the Senate Floor,
on the afternoon when his children
had been in lockdown
at their schools in Altanta.
Yet, as he acknowledges,
in our country
there is a mass shooting nearly every day.
"None of us is safe anywhere."
Jesus spoke about going onward
to prepare a place for us.
Often I have thought of this place
as a welcoming home where we can gather
after our life on earth is over.
But these days I am thinking that the place Jesus speaks of
can also be a place here on earth,
a place to go with Jesus now, while we are still alive,
a place we can build together:
a place of shelter,
a place of sharing,
a place of shalom (safety, peace, well-being for all).
Jesus says we already know the way
to this place where he is even now inviting us to gather.
In wild faith, I believe him.
The verses in scripture where Jesus invites us to dwell in this place, "so that where I am, there you may be also," are in John 14:1-4.