In my final Advent Poem on Nicodemus, I concluded with lines about Christian courage in the face of the Colorado shootings:

So, Bethlehem, with candle three,
Are you afraid? Or are you free?
Do Christian-killers in the news
Make you a slave? Or do you choose
With Christ that they will make you brave?
What do you fear the most? The grave?
Did Jesus die and rise for this?
Or that the certain hope of bliss
Beyond the bullets and the blood
Would bless this planet with a flood
Of fearless sacrifice? What gun
Can cut us off from Jesus? None!
Nor tribulation or distress,
Nor danger, sword, or nakedness.
Though we were killed like sheep all day,
The Shepherd of our souls holds sway.
And when he comes, it will be plain
That none of us has died in vain.
The body that was pierced and torn,
Never forget, will be reborn.

Read the whole thing.