The bombings yesterday in Boston will continue to be the prime topic of conversation; the bomber's desired effect realized when we ratchet up the rhetoric of hate and revenge and destruction. I pray that will not happen; at least that it will not happen in your life and in your conversations.
My trip to Washington, D.C. last week was to commend a friend into God's hands; it was to comfort his wife and children. But she is the one who gave me all the gifts. Shortly after arriving, she organized us all for an outing to see the cherry blossoms along the Tidal Basin. Among the blossoms is the Memorial I have been longing to see - the one dedicated to the Rev Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. I am thinking of King this morning.
Among King's writings is a book titled "The Strength to Love." In it, he points out that it is easy to love those who love us. It is a common thing to love those who speak well of us and honor us. The challenge for God's children is to love those whose fear and prior injuries have left them bitter and angry. The call, for those who follow Jesus, is to break the cycle of hatred and retaliation.
After the September 11 attacks, while so many were looking around and asking "Who did this?" Jimmy Carter told his Sunday Church School class to seek an answer to the question, "Why did they do this?"
We do not show our strength by being more destructive in our response; we show the strength of God by being loving enough to acknowledge the kernel of truth in the critique of our enemy. It is not an admission of guilt. It is a willingness to continue to love and care for the one who has become wounded and injured and driven by their weakness to a senseless act of hatred.
Amid all the clamor today, be a voice of calm and a speaker for God. Remember that the most often repeated phrase of the Resurrected Jesus as "Do not be afraid." Fear drives us to do all sorts of horrible things. And the followers of Jesus put an end to horrible things, not continue their destructive path.
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