The possible out of the impossible...

I’ve been struggling to put into print my reaction to the news that Osama Bin Laden was killed.

On the one hand I’ve found myself feeling uncomfortable with the images of people at a baseball stadium chanting, “USA! USA! USA!” As if we had just won an Olympic event. I felt uncomfortable wondering who else in the world might see this and how they might interpret the cheering. While the cheering made me uncomfortable, I also noticed that there were others in the stadium not chanting, but sitting quietly. Many seemed as if they were pondering the gravity of the situation. Like those sitting out the chanting, the cheering of someone’s death does not seem appropriate to me. Even if that death was someone’s like Osama Bin Laden.

On the other hand, I’ve also felt a strange feeling of comfort and even satisfaction that our country has the power and ability to find and deal with someone like Bin Laden who has caused thousands of human deaths. Power and strength do provide a sense of comfort, and there seem to be times when war and acts of war are justified. I’ve also felt a sense of admiration and thanks for the young men who carried out this act. They are disciplined, courageous, and honorable. I know them. I’ve met them. I know their parents. Their act has kept me safe from those who seek to harm me. Like the police officers who patrol our cities streets, they are good people whose job it is to confront evil on a daily basis so that most of us don’t have to.

As I’ve watched the day and my reactions unfold I’ve tried to hold in mind two central claims of the Christian faith: First, Jesus died. Instead of ruling as king with a sword, Jesus allowed himself to be killed. The story of Jesus takes seriously the difficulties of human life… sometimes violence is humanity’s answer. Violence, hate, evil and death are real things. The second claim is that Jesus rose from the dead. One possible interpretation of the resurrection is hope for possibility in the face of what seems impossible. In other words, if death is not the end it seems to be, what else might be possible? Could belief in the resurrection actually create hope that something completely new and even unexpected is possible? If death, violence and hate are real things, so are compassion, self-sacrifice, forgiveness and love. If resurrection is possible, than life and love are more powerful than violence, hate and even death itself.

So with the day coming to an end, and all my reactions still swirling, I’m going to say this: Sometimes in the face of evil, humanity must respond. Our response to the difficulties of life will always be limited and finite, and thus offered with humility. But I will also hope that somehow, through regular everyday people like you and me, God is working out new possibilities where we see none. I will pray that God, through a real human being, in real time, will somehow speak a peace that will be so compelling that love will possess individuals, communities and even countries. I will pray that all our actions, even where death is the result, are somehow being redeemed for a future that is beyond the possibilities of today. With hope in the resurrection, I will pray for the possible to come out of the impossible.

Pastor Scott