{"id":17796,"date":"2023-06-05T12:07:44","date_gmt":"2023-06-05T16:07:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=17796"},"modified":"2023-06-05T12:07:44","modified_gmt":"2023-06-05T16:07:44","slug":"nashville-pastor-preaches-first-sermon-since-daughters-school-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2023\/06\/nashville-pastor-preaches-first-sermon-since-daughters-school-shooting","title":{"rendered":"Nashville Pastor Preaches First Sermon Since Daughter’s School Shooting"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Convenant Nashville\/YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In his first sermon since his daughter was killed in a mass shooting at a Christian school, Chad Scruggs, the senior pastor at Covenant Presbyterian Church, discussed the complicated nature of grief while thanking the church for supporting his family during their pain.<\/p>\n

Scruggs told his Nashville-based church in a message titled \u201cLoss and Gain,\u201d \u201cFirst of all, we love you. We loved you before March 27, and we love you more now because of how you have loved us.\u201d Scruggs\u2019 only daughter and youngest child, Hallie, was one of the six victims murdered in a mass shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville after 28-year-old shooter Audrey Hale fired through the doors and shot.<\/p>\n

Hale was shot dead by the police, who rushed to the scene 14 minutes after the initial 911 call. Scruggs said his family is usually asked how they\u2019re doing, but \u201cwe just don\u2019t know how to answer it yet. We\u2019re not doing well; kind of searching for a new baseline in life right now.\u201d The pastor said he\u2019s finding comfort in C.S. Lewis\u2019 book \u201cA Grief Observed<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scruggs said, \u201cLewis talked about that loss like an amputation, which has been helpful for me for this reason. How are you doing? Well, we\u2019re learning to live with a part of us missing.\u201d He continued, \u201cLike losing an arm, perhaps, knowing that the phantom pain of that lost arm will always be there with us, just know that from our perspective now it feels impossible to ever pretend the arm will regenerate or that it will ever feel whole this side of Heaven. So I\u2019d say we\u2019re learning to live with sadness. And I will tell you that that\u2019s OK. You can do that. Learning to live with sadness.\u201d<\/p>\n