The explosions of crudely made bombs at the Boston Marathon
were a shock. I was at first surprised by all the media coverage and the
prolonged nature of it. Perhaps I had that response because I was so far away
physically. It was when I heard a news commentator say that there was something
inherently risky about a free and democratic society that I felt connected. We can create a great
deal of security, but because we are free to move about at will, destructive
behaviors can always find an entrance. He made the point that this is a cost
of freedom. It makes me wonder, how much freedom do we give away in order to be
how safe? Freedom is a core American value and here it is, being challenged.
Freedom is clear in Scripture. There is always room to make
our choices. There is also a clear indication that there are consequence for
choice. One such consequence is that when we wander away from the good and
noble thing we will pay some price. It is also clear when we choose the good
and noble thing we may also pay a price. Which price is worthy of us in God's intention?
King Nebuchadnezzar in the Book of Daniel does not worship the
One True God. He is somewhat loyal to another god. He, like many with great
power, is at least somewhat self possessed. He admires his palace, his city, his
empire which he sees as his own making. He has been warned in a dream that all
this will end, but he seems just now to have forgotten. His one possible out
was conversion to the One True God, the God of Israel. Yet it is only after the
dreamed disaster is realized that we hear him say:
"I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored the one who lives
forever. For his sovereignty is an everlasting sovereignty, and his kingdom
endures from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are
accounted as nothing, and he does what he wills with the host of heaven and the
inhabitants of the earth. There is no one who can stay his hand or say to him,
'What are you doing?' ... Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor
the King of heaven, for all his works are truth, and his ways are justice; and
he is able to bring low." Daniel 4:34,35,37.
Conversion to seeking God's will comes to this man lost in his power only
after he falls from power. Oddly for him, then power comes back to him. He
then practices seeking God out.
I feel reminded that even after tragedy strikes we are given choices. Will we
stay the way of the God we worship and adore or will we follow our own power
disassociated from God's ways?
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who
loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for
God is love. ... We love because he first loved us. Those who say, "I love God,"
and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a
brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.
The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their
brothers and sisters also. First John 4:7-8, 20-21.
The challenge is always to find a creative and loving response. We witnessed
people helping people after the bombing yesterday. This was loving. We
witnessed people concerned for those they knew and did not know. This was
loving. We witnessed anger expressed in some degree, but to a lesser degree.
This was shock and an early human response of coping. We witnessed concern for
security. This is wise. There remains the human task of being sure that our
designed response never forgets the deep work of emulating God's love even as we
work to some just response.
I am struck in today's Gospel that when Jesus casts out the demon from the
man with the unclean spirit, we find these words:
But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" When the
demon had thrown him down before them, he came out of him without having done
him any harm. Luke 4:35.
What does this mean that no harm was done? Is it that the demon did no harm
or that the process of Jesus healing did no harm? If it is the later, that this
process of healing did no harm, how might that guide us now as we seek healing
from what is apparently a terrorist attack? Certainly it is not that terror has
a right to be. But it may well be that we, who are claimed by Christ and live in
this society, are to seek the deeper ways of love and care even now that we might do no
harm.
It is a Godly thing to sit with this principle and work toward ever deeper
care in our society and world.
Now I, ... praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his
works are truth, and his ways are justice; and he is able to bring low. Daniel
4:37.
And in Christ this God raises us up to a higher place and mind. May we aspire
to it together as a people and do no harm.
No comments:
Post a Comment