On the anniversary of Columbine, Newsweek had a poignant article about two pastors who were serving in the area at the time, and the toll that event took on their congregation's and their lives. Pastor Marxhausen, a Lutheran minister who presided at Dylan Kliebold's funeral, said "I learned how fear can take hold of a community. You have to be prepared to hurt when you go into the ministry. But I never thought it would hurt that much."
A few weeks ago I met a woman who was a youth minister at another local Lutheran church at the time of Columbine. When the crisis team from Lutheran Social Services came in to talk with her and other church leaders, they said bluntly, "Most of you will no longer be on staff here in two years." Their experience was that these events take an enormous toll on leaders, even if they are not the ones directly grieving the dead. All the anniversary reporting I've read confirms their prediction was true.
I thought of this this week when I learned that a gifted pastor I know is now senior pastor at Reformation Lutheran in Wichita, where Dr. Glenn Tiller was shot on Pentecost Sunday as he was ushering for his congregation. There are all kinds of ways in which the situation is not analogous, but the trauma is still profound. I'm praying for this congregation and its leaders that they can make it through the long road ahead.
