Pastor delivers impactful sermon after daughter’s death in school shooting.

Lorri WickenhauserJune 1, 2023

Pastor Returns to Pulpit Two Months After Daughter’s Tragic Death in School Shooting

“The answer you’ll typically get for us from us is, ‘we don’t know,’” Scruggs said. “It’s not a bad question, [we] just don’t know how to answer it yet — don’t know how to judge what doing well is or doing not well. We’re kind of searching for a new baseline in life right now,” he said.

It’s been two months since the tragic school shooting at Covenant Christian School in Nashville, Tennessee, where six people lost their lives, including 9-year-old Hallie Scruggs, daughter of senior pastor Chad Scruggs. On Mother’s Day, Scruggs returned to the pulpit to deliver a powerful sermon to his congregation.

Scruggs expressed his gratitude to the congregation for their support during the past two months, saying, “First of all, we love you. We loved you before March 27th and we love you more now because of how you’ve loved us, so … we love you.”

He also shared how he and his family are coping with their loss, saying that they are “learning to live with sadness” and that it’s okay to do so. He compared their situation to that of Isaiah 40:38, where those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength and mount up with wings like eagles.

Scruggs also found solace in a book by C.S. Lewis, “A Grief Observed,” which helped him understand that their loss is like an amputation, and that they are learning to live with a part of them missing. He said, “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.”

He ended his sermon by saying, “There really is something worse than being sad: It’s being sad and being alone. And we were very grateful that we have never felt alone.”