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"Whispering Loud and Clear: Life, Love, Laughter, and the Spirit Among Us"  by Stuart Revercomb

"Stuart Revercomb has a way of looking at the everyday and making it Divine. I recommend him to you knowing that he will make you laugh, think, cry, and reach out beyond yourself."

-Ruth Graham

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The Weekly Fare . . . September 9, 2004

Man Hates - God Waits

As vile and misguided and corrupt of heart as Adolph Hitler was, I'm not sure he ever would have directed his deranged henchmen to take over a school and "slaughter all the children if something doesn't go right . . ." Certainly his crimes against humanity were far, far greater, but in terms of outright violence against innocents, he clearly had nothing on modern Arab extremists.

September 11th 2001 was as horrific as the average American can fathom.

September 3rd 2004 was no less offensive in its affront to all that is good in the human heart.

Love your enemies comes kind of hard right now doesn't it . . .

I'll be honest - given the chance to pull the trigger and execute such men and women I don't think I would hesitate. I am still in that post-trauma mode where such madness has the best part of me defining these individuals as something far less than human. I think I could do it with the ease that I might exterminate a hive of hornets that threatened my children.

End the life of anyone or anything that would perpetrate such insanity. End it now.

But upon further reflection of the dilemma that is the human heart and mind gone mad, I realize that I must somehow find a way to honor who I am - a Christian attempting to live in accordance with the wild claims that God has put upon the world and more particularly my own heart.

But how? How can we go forward - especially if we were one of those carrying the limp and bloodied bodies of our only children from the burned out shell that just hours before had been their school gym or classroom?

I'm not sure. I don't think there is a theologian alive that would attempt to utter any words to those poor parents whose pain is so far beyond our imagining. But I do know one thing. Our response is somehow, eventually at least, to be based in unconditional love - a love that shows mercy to even the worst and most desperate of our kind.

But does such love allow for killing in response to such an act?

I think it does. And I think it doesn't.

I think it does, because I think God knows our hearts better than we do. And frankly, I don't think God's expectations are particularly high relative to what we might do under such circumstances - hopeful maybe, but certainly not based in any confidence that we will have what it takes to allow a broader perspective to guide us through such emotional carnage. And I think it does, because we are clearly called to protect the innocent, and such efforts may well require swift and decisive action to eliminate the threat that is upon us.

But at the same time, we must recognize that the love that gave birth to the creation doesn't allow for a response that is born solely of revenge, because to do so would be to ground it at least marginally in the very hate and evil it strives to conquer. And no part of that which is contrary to such perfect love can be part of its ultimate reality - its ultimate victory . . .

So the creator and the created wait upon each other . . . the latter, struggling through the madness of this world with one eye on the curtain of truth that seems to stay partially closed to the infinite promise behind it. While the former breathes life inexorably into the world, asking and whispering and cajoling that we might trust that all will somehow be well . . .

And by His Grace it will.

Trust such a truth and live on.