Mark Sorensen I’m ready for the morning that I can wake up, roll out of bed, flip on the morning news and not see images and hear the stories of yet another tragedy that has taken place in our nation.
What began earlier in the week with the shooting of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, LA, has now led to an attack on officers outside the Dallas, TX, police department as people held a silent peaceful protest organized by clergy within the city. Twelve officers were shot, five have died.
My heart is broken this morning. It’s broken for the fathers, mothers, sons and daughters, that will not walk through the doors of their homes this evening because of choices made and actions carried out this week that took their lives from us all too soon. My heart is grieving for the oppressed, those who feel their lives have no value, and for those who see violence and “striking back” as the answer to the hurt they hold in their hearts.
What I know to be true?
Violence will not end violence. Love is the answer.
How do we respond to the brokenness we see around us? We grieve. We mourn. We put our arms around those without hope this morning and we remind them that this is not the world that God created in Genesis 1-2. Yet, even though there’s darkness in the world, we must not be deceived… Jesus Christ is still the light of the world and no darkness can stand when we, as the children of God, shine the light of Christ within those dark places. What did Jesus tell his disciples? “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
So, we take Jesus at His word and we take heart. Truly, He has overcome.
We love as God has loved us, and we live out of that love as Christ loved others.
Allow me to share a prayer of St. Francis for us all today.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy. O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen
