Responding to Evil: Thoughts for Manchester

In light of the recent attack on youth and their mothers at a concert venue in Manchester, England I feel a strong lead to answer the question, "How can we faithfully respond to evil?"

There is a very natural and righteous sense of anger when innocent people are harmed.  In my estimation that anger comes from at least two places in our hearts and minds.

One place is that anger comes from pain.  In this situation it is the pain of loss.  For those affected directly by acts of terror their pain is unimaginable; people in the city, family, and friends of the dead and injured have lost security,  hopes for the future life of children and family, and they have lost peace.  Their pain is the seed of anger.  For those of us farther away we empathize with their loss as we imagine ourselves to be like them enjoying pleasures of life interrupted.  Brought to mind is the loss of our community's mental security.  We are rightfully angry because of pain and loss.

Another place is that anger comes from injustice.  Anger is planted in the need to have fairness which is stripped away because of events like this.  We desire for there to be justice among people. Terrorist bombings are an extreme example of taking away equality.  My right to live is just as valuable as your right to live.  The destruction of all innocent life is a crime against God who is the giver of life and humanity who is our brother.  There is no fairness or justice in the murder of innocents.  So we are angry.

What do we do with anger?  Anger can be the seed of revenge.  Vengeance is the response to injustice and the theft of equality.  It is natural to have a desire for vengeance however humans do not meet it out fairly.  Revenge in human hands leads down a dark path.  Often when men are motivated by revenge to seek justice they react with greater destruction and only perpetuate the violence.  A measured response is needed.

How do we respond to the reality of violence and tragedy?  Prayer. But not in a trite, blind-faith kind of way.  Not the kind of prayer that momentarily asks to comfort the suffering and heal the injured.  Not the kind of prayer that is empty words like when the leaders say "God bless America" because they don't know how to finish their speech.

The prayer I'm talking about draws us closer to God and brings us to a peace and strength which goes beyond our understanding.  The prayer I'm talking about is a prayer that fortifies and allows you to move forward knowing that when these things happen it will not devastate you.

Prayer brings peace and calms us; it enables us to prepare for the future events and not only react to them.  Prayer helps us to thoughtfully and with measure respond to tragedy.  Prayer helps us to pick up pieces and begin to put things back together in a way that makes us stronger and prepares for a future peace.

It's praying the Serenity Prayer slowly enough to allow words to form in your mind and actually believe each syllable of every word.  Prayer is to truly accept those things beyond your control, change those things that you are able to change, and to know the difference.

I saw today an American news outlet that has taken a moderate shift in how it's reporting this story.  The journalists were not inciting anxiety as they customarily do.  That is a good thing.  God's desire is for us to draw closer to him and comfort those who are suffering and anxious and fearful.  We are to resist hysteria and thoughtless reaction.  Prayer helps us move forward thoughtfully.

As we remain calm we must at the same time be vigilant.  We must reform those things that bring about organized violence by groups who hate us and we must stand guard and be watchful for those enemies of peace who are motivated solely by the evil intentions of their hearts.

Prayer is the antecedent of action.  When we have the calm and peace the state is then prepared to meet out justice to the guilty.  Ultimately God will be arbitrator of justice, but nations in this world have a responsibility to protect and defend the peace of society in a temperate way.

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

One of those antiquated texts from thousands of years ago.

...All those things have vanished like a shadow, and like a rumor that passes by; like a ship that sails through the billowy water, and when it has passed no trace can be found, nor track of its keel in the waves; or as, when a bird flies through the air, no evidence of its passage is found; the light air, lashed by the beat of its pinions and pierced by the force of its rushing flight, is traversed by the movement of its wings, and afterward no sign of its coming is found there; or as, when an arrow is shot at a target, the air, thus divided, comes together at once, so that no one knows its pathway. The Book of Wisdom 5.9-23
My Commentary: This was written over 2,000 years ago and it testifies to the fleeting nature of our lives. Most of us will not even be a bullet point on the historical timeline of history. Names that are familiar to us like Christopher Columbus, Florence Nightingale, George Washington Carver, Golda Meir, Maya Angelou, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson have secured a legacy in history that most of us will not attain. What then is the purpose of our little lives?
Our legacy is instead in the small moment of contact with individuals. Instead of leaving a track in the sea perhaps we are driving the ship or unfurling the sail. We are the ship builders and mathematicians who charted the way for Columbus. We are the paper maker who provided parchment for Jefferson or the peanut farmer who gave Carver his peanuts. We are the kites and thread makers which enable Franklin to develop the lightening rod. We are the stage crew of comforters, helpers, and support on the big stage.
As it pertains to the passage from Wisdom all of this activity, in which we participate, finds its eternal purpose to the extent that it glorifies the eternal God.