Making Sense of It All

 I started writing this weekly column in 2009, reflecting on current events and life experience from a faith perspective.   During these fifteen years current event have included: the attack at Fort Hood, the AME church in Charleston where 9 members were gunned down, the bombing at the Boston Marathon, the massacre at Sutherland Springs, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, among many others.

 I anticipated last weekend with trepidation:  a massive display of military might in DC celebrating the 250^th anniversary for the U.S. army; “No Kings” protests, the conflict between Israel and Iran that started on Friday, June 13. All of this against the backdrop of economic fears and growing tension between the judiciary and executive branches of government.

 The military parade turned out to be a history display starting with the Revolutionary soldiers in colonial uniform and progressing through the wars that have shaped our nation and the world. It included multi-ethnic, male and female GIs. The “No Kings” protests drew over 5 million peaceful participants in more than 2,000 cities.  The great tragedy of the weekend was the assassination of Minnesota state representative Melissa Hortman along with her husband by a gunman who was captured Monday.  He also attempted to kill state Senator John Hoffman and his wife.  The war between Israel and Iran continued to escalate.   

 Unfortunately, our president continues to sow words of suspicion, contempt, anger, fear, resentment and division. We need to hear the words of another President spoken 160 years ago: “With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right as God give us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nations wounds.”

 Isaiah helped us rise above current events to see the big picture.  “Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning?  Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the vault of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.  He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.  Scarcely have then been planted, scarcely have then been sown, scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth but He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the storm carries them away like stubble, (Isaiah 40:21-24).”  God is in control of history.  Not man.

 Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma Ghandi taught us the power of peaceful non-violent protests. They both were students of Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount.  We must treat all men and women with respect, including our adversaries, immigrants and those of other faiths and languages”  Jesus said, “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?” (Matthew 5:44-47). We must respect and seek the welfare of all persons of every creed and color.