Evangelical Lutheran Church in America News
Lutherans Prepare for First Anniversary of Virginia Tech Shooting
CHICAGO, April 15 PRNewswire — The Lutheran Student Movement at Virginia Tech is providing opportunities for growth while bracing for more media attention on the first anniversary of the worst campus shooting in U.S. history.
On April 16, 2007, a lone gunman killed 32 faculty and students at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va., before killing himself.
The Rev. William H. King said the greatest anxiety he hears among students as the anniversary approaches is the media attention. The feeling on campus is, "Here come the (news) trucks again," said King, campus pastor, Luther Memorial Lutheran Church, a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America located near the Virginia Tech campus.
Virginia Tech student Betsy Potter, 22, said that life on campus immediately after the shooting felt like "a fishbowl" with the media. Potter added that students felt supported by Lutheran Student Movement (LSM). "It was amazing how many other LSM (groups) sent notes from all over the country," she said.
When students returned for classes in the fall, they were in very different places, said the Rev. Joanna Stallings, campus pastor, Luther Memorial. Many students "didn't want to hear another word about" the shooting, she said.
"The most important thing we did as a community was worship," said Stallings. Students gather weekly on Tuesday evenings for a meal and worship at the student center and participate in Luther Memorial's Sunday services.
In addition to attending to spiritual needs the tragedy provided an unexpected opportunity for public ministry on a national level.
The day after the shooting, King delivered words from the Christian tradition to comfort a diverse community at the Virginia Tech Convocation, which included speeches by Virginia Tech faculty and U.S. President George W. Bush.
"I took a lot of heat for not mentioning Jesus in that convocation," said King of the national broadcast. He felt it was important to provide pastoral care for the entire university community rather than make a confessional statement.
"Naming the Pain, Speaking of Hope: Considerations for Religious Address in Time of Crisis" by the Rev. William H. King, published in the May 2007 issue of Journal of Lutheran Ethics is at http://www.ELCA.org/jle/article.asp?k=721 on the Web.
SOURCE Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
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