Glenn Balzer, a member of His Love Fellowship church in Denver, was already tapped to give the Sunday sermon when he heard that a former member had gone on a shooting rampage that left four dead.
As a speaker, he had to decide whether to keep to his original plan to preach about Advent, or to shift focus to Ecclesiastes with its message that there is a time for everything, or to some other Scripture.
He decided to keep to a Christmas message that emphasized forgiveness.
“The last seven days have been a week of unspeakable sadness and unspeakable shock,” Balzer told congregants, “but it has also been a week of amazing grace.”
Since Matthew Murray, 24, mounted attacks last Sunday, first on an Arvada missionary center and then New Life Church in Colorado Springs, before he killed himself, members of both groups have called for his forgiveness.
Balzer read a New Testament passage that recounted Christ saying “let he who is without sin, cast the first stone” at an adulteress.
Even in the midst of last week’s bloodbath, “the spirit of Christmas was lurking. We have, and we serve, a God who forgives.”
