Safe and Secure

Whenever a tragedy like those students killed at Virginia Tech occurs, it shakes up my complacency. It reminds me of my own vulnerability. As a way of dealing with this sense of vulnerability I find myself imagining myself in the same situation as the victims but somehow I do something heroic or God miraculously intervenes to prevent whatever it is that makes me feel helpless and out of control.

I imagine ways that I can feel safe and secure in the face of the tragedy a response I take to be quite human. At the same time, I wonder about what are reasonable steps to take to feel safe and secure, and when are certain actions or behaviors over the top? How can I live life well in the midst of a broken world and my own vulnerability and not become obsessed with safety and security?

Alan Hirsch in the book that I recently reviewed in my blog, The Forgotten Ways, refers briefly to "middle-class culture" and aspects of it that he believes work against "authentic gospel values." The middle-class culture, he writes, has to do with an emphasis--preoccupation--with safety and security. While he acknowledges that this concern stems from a legitimate concern for the health and well-being of our children, it can and frequently does become compulsive, it works against the faith.

Ultimately we are to seek our safety and security in God. And while we might give intellectual acknowledgement to this as an abstract generalization, in the concrete reality of vulnerability and fear, we tend to look for more tangible means of feeling secure. How much security seeking is appropriate? How do we decide what actions make sense and what actions are obsessive?