"The evangelist Paul wrote to the early followers of Christ in Rome: “If people mistreat or malign you, bless them. Always speak blessings, not curses. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.”
We weep with the people of Newtown, CT tonight. We weep with the aunts and the uncles, the siblings, the grandparents. We weep with the parents. We weep with the teachers and the first responders. We mourn with them and we recognize that their grief is even greater than we can imagine.
And alongside our sadness, we feel the rising, bitter sting of anger. We want to strike back, we want someone to pay for this. But Paul’s words to those early Christians echo out to us today.
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(from previous comment) “Do not retaliate with evil,” Paul says, “regardless of the evil brought against you. Try to do what is good and right and honorable…. If it is within your power, make peace with all people. …. do not seek revenge; instead,…consider this bit of wisdom: ‘If your enemy is hungry, give him something to eat. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink; because if you treat him kindly, it will be like heaping hot coals on top of his head.’ Never let evil get the best of you; instead, overpower evil with the good.”
Make peace. Overpower evil with good. We, as a community need to find ways to overpower evil with good. Instead of calling for more weapons or more punishments or more retaliation, we need to call on our leaders to take a look at our existing laws and change them so that it is no longer easier to get guns than it is to get mental health care. If we work towards creating a nation of equality, if we work towards caring for and praying for even those with whom we disagree, if we take a long hard look at ourselves and understand where we and our nation needs to change, maybe then we can truly begin to find the path towards peace - the peace that God intended for our whole world."