Lutheran Family Services of Virginia response to the Virginia Tech tragedy

Jan David Tobias, Coordinator, Lutheran Disaster Response, Virginia

Report : April 23, 2007 

         Thanks, friends, everywhere, so much for your thoughts and expressions of concern during these last seven days. It's been a strange, sad and stressful week.

      Bishop James Mauney of the Virginia Synod and I went to Virginia Tech the day after the shootings and spent the day talking with students, pastors and some faculty. We attended the university's convocation Tuesday afternoon and a memorial service at Luther Memorial Lutheran Church across the street from campus later that afternoon. The prayers were heartfelt, and the community gathered to celebrate its faith and in mutual consolation. We ended the day with the beautiful candlelight vigil that evening on the Drill Field. On the first Sunday after the shootings, April 22, I worshipped at Luther Memorial, stayed for both services and was a representative LDR presence with the church members, who include students, faculty and long-time Blacksburg residents.

      Today, we are all Hokies. One wonderful demonstration of support among many that happened Tuesday was reported through LDR channels. Among the messages of support and care received at the campus ministry center was one from the people from the Gulf Coast of Louisiana where Tech students had just been to help during spring break with the "What a Relief!" Katrina disaster relief project. Their Louisiana friends wanted to know how everyone was doing, and what they could do to help.

      Recovery from the shock of this will be a long process. Virginia Tech has humanely told the students that although classes resumed on Monday, April 23, if students are content with the grades they had going into this past week they don't have to come back. The downside is that there will be many unresolved feelings when students return in the fall, and their trauma is bound to be renewed.

      Kevin Massey and I have discussed plans for coordinating long-term trauma response, focused on Blacksburg and the surrounding region. Kevin, who is the assistant director of Lutheran Disaster Response responsible primarily for pastoral, emotional and spiritual care following a disaster, is coming to Southwest Virginia May 6-9. We are planning meetings with a number of pastors, leaders of other denominations, faculty, and counselors to pack in as much planning and support as we can during those days.

      For more information, I encourage you to visit the excellent Lutheran Disaster Response website (www.ldr.org), which has many available resources and is frequently updated. Other resources are available at the Virginia Synod ELCA (www.vasynod.org); and Southeastern District LCMS (disasterhelp@se.lcms.org) websites. If you would like to offer support, resources or skills please get in touch with me, the Synod or the District. 

      If you need our support or would like to use the resources available through our network, you can reach me at jtobias@lfsva.org; (toll-free: 866-946-4598; cell: 434/882-1739). Or you can call Julie Swanson, CEO of Lutheran Family Services of Virginia, at jswanson@lfsva.org; 540/774-7100, ext. 330.

      We are so grateful for all of you, for your love and support, especially in these dark days. I am also thankful for the resurrection promise of Easter, and that as St. Paul says in Romans 8, "nothing in all of creation is capable of separating us from the love of God in Christ Jesus."  In his remarks at the Virginia Tech convocation last week, our own Lutheran campus pastor, Bill King, quoted from the prologue to St. John's Gospel, in reference to the light of Christ: "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."

      I'll be providing occasional updated reports on our response. Thanks again for your prayers and support.

Jan David Tobias, coordinator, Lutheran Disaster Response

A ministry of Lutheran Family Services of Virginia

Lutheran Family Services of Virginia is an affiliate of Lutheran Disaster Response, a collaborative ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

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Heather Feltman, Executive Director, Lutheran Disaster Response and Director, ELCA Domestic Disaster Response, offered this prayer:

"Into your hands, Holy Father, we commend all those affected by this tragedy: the students, faculty, and staff at Virginia Tech; the family and friends of those who were killed; the residents of Blacksburg, Virginia; local clergy and congregational leaders; all of us who have watched this event unfold this week. And because Jesus commanded us to love even those who would do us harm, we commend to you those for whom, in our anger and grief, we cannot yet pray."
A litany has been prepared for congregations to use in praying for and remembering those who are affected by this terrible event, including  not only those who lost family members or friends but all of us in our  grief from this violence.

Concordia Publishing House is also offering resources for teaching, study, and preaching in times of tragedy.