My heart and prayers go out to the victims and their families of yesterday’s mass shooting in Oregon. I’m extremely hard pressed to find any hope that this type of thing will end anytime soon. The United States is the only developed country where this happens on anything approaching a regular basis. The pattern is all too familiar: there is a mass shooting, followed by shock and grief, followed by no substantial change whatsoever. It sometimes seems to me that nothing will ever change. I’m reminded of the words of Harry Emerson Fosdick in the hymn God of Grace and God of Glory: “Save us from weak resignation to the evils we deplore.” I desperately need God’s help in order not to give up fighting for a country where these dreadful events don’t occur on a regular basis.