Meditation for October 4, 2006

From Peter Munson

Hosea 4:1-10 (from the Daily Office Lectionary for Oct. 3)

 

Faith, Hope and Love Trump Everything

 

"Hear the word of the Lord, O people of Israel; for the Lord has a indictment against the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or kindness, and no knowledge of God in the land; there is swearing, lying, and murder, and stealing and adultery break out; bloodshed follows bloodshed. Therefore the land mourns, and all who live in it languish..." (Hosea 4:1-3)

 

I have been feeling deeply sad and also quite angry about recent events. I took Zach to the CU-CSU football game in early September - it has become one of our annual traditions. We sat up high in the fifth level at Mile High Stadium, in a section of CU fans, many of them CU students.  The game was not five minutes old and I had already lost count of how many "F-bombs" I had heard. And not quietly, either - they were being shouted out, all around us. I have a son who really thinks that he might want to go to CU. Four generations of Munsons and Barretts (my mom's side) have gone to CU, including me.  And this is what he has to aspire to?

 

And then there is the recent molestation of girls and the murder of Emily Keyes at Platte Canyon High School in Bailey, the Wisconsin principal murdered, and now the murders of young, innocent Amish girls in Pennsylvania.  And Zach asking me the ultimate judgment question, "So Dad, do you think the people who do these kinds of things (he was referring to the murders, not the cussing) go to hell?"

 

I will have to wrestle with that one, but that is not what this meditation is about. It is about what we do with our deep sadness, our great anger, even our grief, when things like these happen all around us.

 

There is a tendency to want revenge. There is a tendency to pronounce judgment, even though the Bible makes it quite clear, in many diffferent places, that we are not the judge. There is a tendency to want to hit someone, or to lash out at someone, or to blame someone. There is a tendency to want to distance ourselves from "those sinners," and act like we have never committed any sins.

 

I notice that Jesus made a habit of eating and drinking with "tax collectors and sinners."  When asked about it, he replied, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick." (Today's reading from Luke 5:29-32)  So I guess we must start there. Our Lord did not distance himself from sinners. He stayed connected to them.

 

But to the extent that we want to "win," to the extent that we want goodness to prevail over evil, it seems to me that we have other things that we can do.

 

We can write about our feelings. I guess I am doing that right now. We can seek the support of our friends, loved ones, and neighbors. I noticed that the people of Bailey talked about practicing random acts of kindness, in Emily's honor. I think this is the direction that we need to go in, in Emily's honor, and also in Jesus' name. And I realize they are contrasting "random acts of kindness" with "random acts of violence." But it seems to me we can improve on that word "random." Random, I realize, implies that you can shower anyone with kindness, even a total stranger. The problem I have with the word "random" is that it also suggests "haphazard movement...without careful choice, aim, or plan," according to the dictionary. I don't think Jesus wants our love or our acts of kindness to be random. I think he wants us to have some intentionality about our love.

 

So, with intentionality, when we are sad and angry and grieving (and all the other things you might be feeling), we can:

 

Out-pray our enemies.

 

Out-forgive them.

 

Out-love them.

 

Intentionally practice acts of kindness.

 

Intentionally hold on to our hope, which is founded in Jesus' triumph over the grave.

 

Intentionally risk acts of faith, when all others might be cautioning us to pull back in, and be scared, and to be looking for our security from sources outside of God. 

 

I believe that faith and hope and love "trump" all the other forces in the world, and most especially the forces of evil.

 

Want to "get even" with your enemies? The Bible talks about eating with them, and giving them a drink of water, and praying for them. I think we are also called to out-love them, out-hope them, and out-faith them. That is the only way to really get even. And it is the only way to go beyond our human nature, and experience something of the Divine.

 

The Lord bless you and keep you.