A Message from Dean McGarvey

Dear students,

As more details about Monday’s shooting in Boulder continue to be released, we wanted to let you know we are grieving with and praying for you and your communities. Many of you will bear the weight of this tragedy in your churches as you look for ways to comfort, cry out, and hold others in their trauma and grief. Some of you will listen to the stories of clients in your counseling offices who are processing and deeply grieving yet another tragedy. Others of you will be called upon to be Jesus to your non-Christian friends and coworkers—to listen with tenderness and mourn with them. Still others of you might have been personally affected and will need time and space to feel and process and be held.

As we face yet another week of tragedy and the prevalence of evil in our country and our state, we pray you would feel God’s presence, to know you are kept in His justice and love, and to experience the freedom to cry out, “How long, O Lord?” We cling to His promise of redemption—that this is not all there is—even as we sit in the insecurity of our reality and the instability of our humanity.

We know that for many Coloradans, this shooting will dredge up the trauma of past shootings that so recently have devastated our communities. Last week’s spa shootings in Atlanta and blatant attack on the dignity and God image of our Asian brothers and sisters are equally devastating, and are affecting our Asian students deeply (please know we are working on specific follow up for our Asian and Asian American students). We vow to be attentive, to take whatever you are experiencing seriously, and to do everything within our means to support you.

We have resources, such as financial support to see a counselor or a spiritual director, and are here to help. Our Student Life team is also available to provide a pastoral listening ear, so please do not hesitate to reach out so we can walk with you through this challenging time.

On behalf of your Student Life team,

Kristy McGarvey