Today marks a week since the hideous events in Newtown, Connecticut, and at 9:30 this morning many churches across the country, including St. Alban's, will be ringing bells to remember those who were killed on that tragic day. I have read that there is some controversy over how many times the bells should be rung - 26 times, for the little children, still babies, really, and for the brave teachers and administrators who tried to save them? 27 times, to include the mother of the killer? 28 times to include the killer himself?
As I read Henri Nouen's offering for today it got me thinking about love, and about forgiveness, two words that ring out during Advent and that ring out in the gospels. We are told of God's extravagant love for his creation, of God's willingness to forgive those who lose their way. The prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah remind us that God knew us before we were born, and saw the potential in each of us, that God loved us even then. How we human beings have struggled over the centuries with this notion of God's love and forgiveness!
Could God love Adam Lanza, with his hideous deeds of last Friday? Could God possibly forgive such horror? I think the answer is yes, God loves this young man, but abhors, as do we all, what he did. Can God forgive him? I think the answer to that is yes, as well. Do we struggle with that? Yes; I think if we are completely honest with ourselves, yes we do. Right now I am so shattered with sadness, so agonizing for the families of all those who died, so angry at Adam Lanza, so angry at our country's lack of strict control of automatic weapons, so angry that we do so little for those suffering from mental illness, that forgiveness for any of it seems far off to me.
But we are called to forgive, aren't we? We are called to love. We may feel precious little of either love or forgiveness right now, but our task is before us: to try. We may not understand God's ways; we may not even like God's ways sometimes, but we can at the same time thank God for those ways. We none of us, pray God, will ever do anything close to what that troubled young man did last Friday, but we all, each and every one of us, stand in need of God's love and of God's forgiveness. Maybe that is what we need to hold before us today even as we remember those lives that were lost a week ago.
God's blessing be with you,
Audrey
Abhor the sin, but love the sinner. This is what I took away from your message this morning. It really doesn't matter how many times we ring the bell at St. Alban's. The important part is that we are there in the moment. We must be willing to pray for all involved including not only the people left alive in Newtown, but for ourselves because there has been a break in the sacred relationship with God. How do we get back on task? I realize that sin might be a bad word but it is true we do all sin. I am grateful to have a very loving God who reaches out to me 24/7 whether I want God to or not. God asks us to be loving toward others--those who are less than, on equal footing or those who are lost in this world. What's important is that I can reach out to God anytime and receive God's many blessings. God is accessible if we are willing to be accessible back. Isn't it time to make an attempt? Isn't clear that forgiveness is needed and not retribution? As the bell rings this morning I want to remember everyone involved in last Friday's frenzy including us who were glued to the TV, frightened, distraught or disturbed by what happened.
ReplyDeleteI was so touched by Debbie Fisher's e-mail yesterday. It spoke volumes about our faith family and our leaders. However on this day, a day of remembering we must remember all that have been majorally effected by those of us who stood like innocent bystanders with no way to help what happened. Let us all take time to pray today not only at 9:30 and not only with the symbolic gesture of ringing bells all over the land. This is a time of repentance not vengeness.
Advent is a time for waiting, repentenance, and renewal. Let us renew our baptism vows and when we taste the Body and Blood of Christ may we come to know that no matter what happens todday for just a few minutes we have the opportunity to be with our God and the people all over the world who are suffering. May it be so.