From Pastor Rod - From Newsletter November 2018
This past week has been yet another of horrendous news … news of an unspeakable mass shooting in a temple of God, an individual sending letter bombs, and a hate-driven double murder. These terrible actions once again leave us struggling to understand the hatred and evil that seems so prevalent in our world today. We look for answers.
Sometimes, the answers just aren’t very clear to us. We can’t understand how such evilness and hatred can fester within someone to bring them to the point of committing such atrocities. But we believe that God’s presence sustains us in every circumstance, even amidst hatred, evil and death.
In times like this, I believe it is up to each of us to rise up, and resist the evil and hateful rhetoric around us. Let us confront the hate from within and without by speaking even more loudly about the kindness, hope, mercy and justice we know from our God. Let us be sure that our own words and our own opinions are formed with compassion, sympathy and wisdom.
Many of you have asked me my thoughts on how we react to this here in our own church. I hope we don’t rush to actions that are based on fear. Let us not overreact. While there is discussion in this and many churches of armed guards, locked and bolted doors, concealed carry parishioners, security cameras, etc., personally, I don’t believe that is how we are meant to worship.
Let us consider how Jesus would react. Jesus rebukes a disciple who brandishes a sword to defend him, telling him in Matthew 26:52, "For all who take the sword will perish by the sword." Jesus did not use violence to protect himself, as the writer says in 1 Peter 2:23: "When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly."
It is clear what Jesus and his apostles did or said, when it came to responding to violence. They were nonviolent to the bitter end. The apostles endured imprisonment, beatings, torture and martyrdom at the hands of their enemies, and never once lifted a finger to defend themselves through violent means.
As I spoke in my sermon this past Sunday, it is important that we seek God’s wisdom in times like this, and not man’s wisdom. I’ve made my position clear in past sermons – if it was up to me, our front doors would be wide open every service, demonstrating that above all, we are a welcoming church.
We are all entitled to our own thoughts about this, and we should discuss and express them freely, and respectfully. Let your session members know how you feel, and any decisions will be made at the session level. Feel free to let me know your own thoughts as well.
In the meantime, keep in your care the parents, the brothers and sisters, relatives, neighbors and friends, of all those affected. And pray for ourselves, who are struggling to make any kind of sense of all this in our world.
God’s blessings,
Rod Seel