Sunday, July 22, 2012

Horror Brings Lesson In Love

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” -- John 13:34-35

Some events are too horrific to comprehend. The mass shooting in a Colorado movie theater is one of them.

Oh, we’ll try. Already people are analyzing the gunman, looking for clues as to why a seemingly brilliant, well-liked student became an orange-haired devil. But, really, how could we possibly ever understand how someone could destroy the lives of so many people?

What’s left are shattered lives that must somehow be rebuilt. For some, funerals will mark the beginning of life without a loved one. They have learned that death can strike in an instant. They now know personally that you can do everything right and still not be protected from evil on this earth.

For others, physical recovery has barely begun. Bodies may heal but scars remain. How do you tell a mother riddled with bullets that her child died and she lived? How do you make sense of surviving what those around you didn’t?

And for the rest of those in the theater that night will be the constant companion running through their minds: Why not me? Why did I walk -- or run -- away and others were shot or killed? Was I just lucky or was I spared for some greater purpose?

For all of us comes the reminder that life is fragile and uncertain. Possessions are worthless amid a life and death divide. God matters. He is who we cling to even as we come to understand that people come before the things we thought we prized.

Jesus told us to love one another. It’s how others can tell we belong to Him. Sometimes it’s hard to love outwardly amidst such great despair. We are fearful to risk our hearts and just as afraid not to.

And then there is the shooter. Surely, his family and friends are suffering too. How could they not be? You think you know someone and suddenly you realize you never did. Where did all this violence come from? Was it there all along or did something snap inside?

Questions without answers. It would be easier to fall into bitterness and hardness. Political rhetoric marks the hearts of some. Fear covers others. Yet Jesus calls us to love. Not because it’s easy but because it’s right.

This Sunday morning fall to your knees in prayer for those who are hurting most. Cry out to God for peace amidst the storm of life. Cling tightly to the hand of the One who came to save us from certain doom. And remember to love one another in all that you do.