Reflections From Sunday Evening

This has been a tough week in many ways. Racial strife at the flagship university in Missouri. Leaders of a great university resigned in the midst of racial unrest. A football team stands with fellow students. A game is at risk. An uneasy truce seems to come forth. The coach of the football team announces he is fighting cancer and will retire at the end of the season. That is a difficult week in Missouri. In the whole scheme of things our issues pale in light of things that happened in Kenya, Nigeria, Baghdad and Paris. Lives were lost in terrorist attacks. There have been no negotiations. There is no uneasy truce. How will the free world respond to the evil threat of terrorism? There are other things that have happened in the past days that have not made the news. People have felt a strange uneasiness. There is a gnawing sense of anxiety over who knows what. Where do we turn? There are some other things that have happened. A person came to church and reported that they had their best church experience in two years. A newly relocated widow found her way to church and perhaps is finding a new family. Youth after youth served 750 people at a turkey dinner. What do we make of all this? Horrible terror. Joyful celebration. Perhaps if we were to walk through the New Testament with Jesus we might encounter one who walked in a real world. He lived under an oppressive political power that was ruthless in maintaining power. There were terrorists in those days who planned and plotted acts of violence to turn things in their favor. In the middle of all that Jesus talked about loving your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. Then he went out and actually did what he preached. I wonder what I will do this week? steve