It's "Patriot's Day" in Boston today. A day of celebration. The Red Sox won, and it was a great day for a marathon. It's "Tax day" in America too, and it's yet another day for one of our children to meet a violent death. In fact, at least three people lost their lives in Boston today because someone, or some group, blew them up. Reports indicate that more than 100 more innocent and ordinary people were injured as well, many of them critically. I don't live in Boston. I've never even been to Boston, but my heart breaks for those who were victimized today. My heart breaks for them, and for the rest of us, because we're all caught up in a maddening escalation of hatred and violence. People have been killing one another since Cain murdered his brother, and the history of our world is, in many ways, a history of violence. I am old enough to know these things, but things seem to be getting out of hand in recent years. They are unrelated- Columbine, Aurora, Newtown, Boston, Oklahoma City, the gang-related killings in Chicago and all the others. Different people died at the hands of different killers for different reasons, but the deaths, and the randomness of the deaths, are adding up. Americans are getting more and more tense, fearful, and distrusting, and even though we say that nothing will change our way of life, we stand in long lines, without shoes, just to board a plane.
What's going on? Does anybody know? And who's to blame? Is it really just a matter of tighter gun laws? Or better schools? Or less poverty? Or violent video games? Or adults who are self-indulgent? Or drugs? Or simply the changing of society? My father was sure that Elvis was ushering in a time of calamity, and he thought that the "Great Society" would be the death of our national character. Were these moments really the beginning of the end? Or can we trace the origin of the slippery slope back to the day when they opened the stores on Sundays? Well, it's hard to say, but there does seem to be a perfect storm brewing in which self-indulgence and intolerance of others are coming to a head. They are a bad combination to begin with, but when one throws in hatred and fear, and takes out religion and faith, we have a recipe for disaster.
As a "street theologian" I'm at a loss for words to explain why tragedies happen. Indeed, I can't even explain why sad things have happened to me, but they have. I've buried a father and two brothers, and I know that pious platitudes will not suffice. There is deep sadness in Boston tonight, and there seems to be a pervasive sadness over the country these days. These things are real, but they are NOT the final word. They are not the final word and never will be because faith is knowing that God walks with us WHEN we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Faith is believing that God walks with us in troubled times, and thus, rather than explain why bad things happen, faith sees us through In short, faith doesn't explain- it proclaims!
I don't know why our children die, and I don't know why we suffer, but I do know that our God is in the resurrection business. God cries for us, just as surely as He cried over Jerusalem, because our pain is great and because we have rejected the fullness of life that He offers. Death is everywhere around us, and I won't add to its emptiness by trying to explain it.. But this truth I cling to: God is able to bring life out of death! Indeed, this lies at the very core of our faith, and therefore, against all odds, there is hope for us tomorrow.
Shalom,
pk
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