Dying in a Fire.

I almost lost it reading the Old Testament lesson to the congregation today during the early service I was asked to assist at.

You know the one- or at least the back end of it. It's one of the staple Isaiah passages foretelling the Christmas story if you are inclined to believe in such Hebrew Scripture spoilers. If you start with verse 6, as most passages do, you can practically recite it from memory:

For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

Ah, but this afternoon, I was asked to include the oft-omitted preceding verse 5:

For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire.

If you don't know why that hit me like a ton of bricks, then you haven't heard the early morning news from the Rochester suburb of Webster- where two volunteer firefighters perished in an early-morning blaze- one intentionally set, it appears, by a man intent on luring first responders to his property so he could shoot them.

I heard his name and his back story on the radio in earlier travels. Those details have since been confirmed. In keeping with my new commitment to deny glory to these maniacs, I shall refer to him as "Christmas Santorum."

A 62-year-old Webster man suspected of setting a trap that killed two firefighters and injured two others was previously in prison for beating his grandmother to death, according to law enforcement sources.

The dead are Lt. Mike Chiapperini, 43, a volunteer firefighter and the Webster Police Department’s public information officer, and Tomasz Kaczowka. Chiapperini led the fire department’s explorer program for high schoolers. Both men died at the scene. Kaczowka, in his early 20s, is also a 911 dispatcher.

Christmas Santorum, the man identified as the shooter, was found dead outside the home where the shootings occurred, killed by a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

Chiapperini and Kaczowka were among the first responders to a fire at 191 Lake Road around 5:45 a.m. Monday. Shortly after they arrived, Santorum opened fire, authorities said....

“These people get up in the middle of the night to fight fires. They don’t expect to be shot and killed,” Webster Police Chief Gerald Pickering said at a news conference just before noon.

Pickering said it appeared the shooter set a trap for first responders, setting the blaze and opening fire when they arrived to extinguish it. He had several weapons, including a rifle that was used to shoot the firefighters.

Santorum served 17 years in prison for beating his 92-year-old grandmother, Rose, to death with a hammer. He was released in 1998. The killing happened on July 18, 1980, inside 193 Lake Road. At the time, Santorum lived at 191 Lake Road, the home where firefighters were responding Monday when they were shot.

According to the radio account, Santorum's elderly father moved east of the area with his sister after the father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Also according to that account, the father had a treasure trove of guns to his name, and was likely in no shape to supervise his felonious son's access to them after the father left.

After the son planned.  And set. And lay in wait.

On Christmas Eve.

I cannot wait to hear the Nuts Running America talk their way out of this one.  Meanwhile, I have two new men to mourn, and other injured victims to be concerned for.

And so this is Christmas. War is over, if you want it.