Some old thoughts after a new killing

A few days ago, a man walked into a gay nightclub in Orlando Florida, killed 49 people, and injured as many more.  It breaks my heart.  Again.  Such happenings are all too frequent, and we dispair about what to do.  So, I was moved to search out my journals to see if what I wrote after 9/11 still "fit" my thinking today.  And it does.  So, I will post here what I said then.

On 9/14/2001 a friend of mine wrote:  "There is no honorable way to fight an enemy like that.  They do not follow the rules of engagement.  They kill women and children and civilians without discretion.  Yet we refuse to break those very rules, which weakens us.  It's like tying up a wolf and letting a handful of chihuahua snap his heels until they take him down."

My reply:  "I understand your anger and your fear and your sadness.  ...  But your statement above I disagree with.  I don' tthink our refusal to break the rules of the most basic humanity weakens us at all.  If anything, it makes us stronger.  When I used to be bullied in junior high school, one of my friends used to just say, "don't worry about it, and don't be brought down to their level."  And she was right.  If we allow ourselves to throw our basic decency out the window just to get revenge, then we have placed ourselves in the same category as the terrorists.  ...  I think we need to keep our basic decency, because if we don't we run the risk of becoming a tyrant nation like those we claim to abhor."

And on 09/16/2001, I wrote the following piece.  I called it, "My Response As A Christian."

This morning after church I went to breakfast at a little cafe' on Main Street.  This is not a fancy place, nor a busy one.  It serves plain food at decent prices.  I sat myself at the table in the middle of the room, with a view straight out the front screen door.

Across the street on the left is a thrift shop, decked out in Fall finery.  On the right is Eastman's Barber Shop, its red, white and blue barber pole still, for now.  Between them, at the outer edge of the sidewalk, and about every 20 feet down Main Street, is a one-story high flagpole, with the American flag flying at half-staff.

I am confronted with the task of trying to make sense out of something that seems so senseless; of trying to find some semblance of peace in the midst of this act of war.

My human nature calls for revenge, cries out for retaliation, makes me want to strike back, to kill and to maim and to make suffer those responsible.  But what must my response be as a Christian?  Do I throw the words of Jesus out the window simply because they seem inconvenient right now?

The times that Jesus lived in were troubled and turbulent.  The Middle Eastern peoples have been at war with each other as far back as any can remember.  Jihad is not new.  So, when Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, do not resist an evildoer.  But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also..." and "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'  But I say to you; Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven..."  He was not speaking to a world at peace, but to a world already an enmity with itself.

Are His words any less valid today, in this time and this place?  Is our world not also at war?  "'Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.  Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.  Live in harmony with one another ...  Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.  If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.  Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord."  No, "if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink, for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads. ...  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

Surely not!  Everything in me shouts out at the seeming folly of this!  Jesus surely didn't mean this.  He couldn't have meant this.  Surely not.  Surely not.

Or did He?

Jesus gave us the only way to respond to violence and hatred - not with retribution and violence and more hatred, but with love and goodness.  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

After Pearl Harbor was bombed, people said, "The world will never be the same again."  And after President Kennedy was assassinated, people said, "The world will never be the same."  And after the Oklahoma City bombing, and the Columbine shootings, and now this, people are saying, "The world will never be the same again."  And people are right.  When has the world ever been the same?

It is not tragedy that shapes us as a nation, as a people, and as individuals.  It our response to the tragedy that shapes us.  Will we allow our lust for revenge to shape the path this country takes from this point forward?  Or will we take that extra step, swallow the bile that the thirst for revenge builds in us, and find ways to leave peaceably with our neighbors?

If we want a peaceful world, we must first be a peaceful people.  As Americans, we have become insular and ignorant of the suffering of others in the world.  We care about ourselves and our quest for the Almighty Dollar instead of caring about Almighty God, His world, and those people who are less fortunate than ourselves.

Has our lust for power and for wealth brought on this hatred of our land an our people?  Americans tend to see ourselves as The Good Guys, but were we the "good guys" when we slaughtered innocent women and children during the Gulf War and then bulldozed their bodies into mass graves?  Were we the "good guys" when we rounded up loyal Japanese-Americans during World War II and herded them into concentration camps in this country?  I believe we need to take a good, hard look at ourselves, as a people and as a nation, and see where we might begin to change our view of the world, and then change ourselves.

I love this land.  I am an American, and I love this country.  I know that war is inevitable, and that many innocent people will suffer.  It breaks my heart.  But my response as a Christian must always be to bless and not to curse, to overcome evil with good, to walk the second mile.  We are a proud and powerful nation, and we will not be overcome in this.

Yet, what an opportunity stands before us!  Let us show the world how Christian people respond to crisis.  Not with bloodthirsty cries of "Revenge!" but by going out our everyday business, with an extra degree of respect for others, and concern for those different than ourselves.

"Pray for those who persecute you," Jesus said.  And even though we may not like it much, He wouldn't have told us to do that unless it were the best course of action for us to take in crisis situations.

Holy God, I pray today for all those who are suffering because of this tragedy.  It isn't easy for any of us to take Your words to heart right now.  It is so easy for us to succumb to the lust for revenge.  Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts, Lord.  Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.  Keep us strong in our defense, but let us not stoop to becoming tyrants ourselves.  Let us not take out on innocent people what a few have done.  Keep us from the sin of racism and prejudice.  Help us to find ways to heal and to bless.  May this tragedy make us kinder, and not angrier.  Give us eyes to see the suffering in the world around us, and give us the grace to help where we can.  Open our eyes, Lord, to see the good in the world around us; open our ears, to hear the truths others speak, and open our hearts to learn, through this tragedy, to listen to You.  Amen.