Choosing Forgiveness

On Wednesday, June 4, the RCMP officer was on the road, frantically trying to get motorists to turn around, gun at the ready. I came alongside another vehicle and asked the driver, “What’s going on?”
His response was something I didn’t expect.

“There’s an active shooter in the area.”

I got on my phone and tracked down my wife, Eleanor. She and about 40 others were locked down in St. Andrew’s Church. A retired RCMP officer and member of our congregation, Tim Sabean, was with them.

Tim sequestered the people in the auditorium, away from the doors and windows. He received constant updates from the Codiac RCMP detachment, kept people calm and informed them of what was going on. Four and a half hours later, the RCMP concluded it was safe to release our people, two at a time. They all made it home safely.

The next day, a lockdown perimeter was established in the city and people within it were encouraged to lock their doors, keep their porch lights on and stay in their basements. Schools and stores were closed.

The city was eerily still. Thirty hours after it began, the lockdown was lifted as the suspected perpetrator—24 – year – old Justin Bourque who had taken his semi – automatic rifle and a shotgun and went on a shooting rampage—announced, “I’m done” shortly after midnight on Friday, June 6.

Newscasts were filmed along Hildegard Dr., the street where our church is located, for most of the 30 hours of the ordeal. They watched the police vehicles gathered a couple hundred yards from St. Andrew’s where three young RCMP officers in the prime of their lives were killed, and two more were wounded. How could we as a church in the middle of this respond? Our slogan at St. Andrew’s is, “Where faith comes to life.” We had to act.

Back in April 1999, when the high school shooting in Taber, Alta., happened, I wondered, “How would I respond as a church leader and community leader to such a terrible crisis?” It led me to training in Critical Incident Stress Management, and over the years I have taken several courses and seminars on the topic. My wife, a therapeutic counsellor, has also had training in CISM as well as trauma. When the situation in Moncton developed we were reminded of Esther in the Bible who was in her situation “for such a time as this.”

When the lockdown was lifted, we both hit the ground running. We set up a community debriefing session for Saturday evening. We didn’t know if we could expect five, 50 or 500. About 55 showed up. On Sunday, we held similar sessions for the congregation and debriefing groups for those who had been locked down in the church. We continue to do sessions with groups and individuals in the neighbourhood.

Stress management training helps people to function, but healing is another matter. One big step toward healing is forgiveness—something we can’t really be trained for. At worship on the Sunday after the shootings, I spoke on the Lord’s Prayer, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” Without forgiveness we continue to enslave ourselves to the tragedy that has been inflicted upon us. There are many ways we can react to such senseless loss. We can suppress the pain through drugs and alcohol, or in the arms of an illicit lover, but we continue to be defined by the event. In John 5:6, Jesus asked a person disabled for 38 years, “Do you want to get well?” Suppressing the pain doesn’t help people get well; choosing to forgive does.

The depth of pain is indescribable. People saw things and experienced things no one should ever have to experience. Here at St. Andrew’s, Moncton, we seek to add quality to people’s lives through Jesus Christ. In this crisis, we have extended practical help and a message of healing and hope. Please pray for us as we heal.