Preaching lately seems like a fools errand to me. The terror attacks in San Bernadino, the fear that is being incited in us
on purpose by the political debate, and tragedies in the United States and around the world too numerous to name weigh heavily on our hearts, and make words seem useless.
In Paul’s letter
to the Romans, chapter 12, verse 21, he notes: "Do not be overcome by evil,
but overcome evil with good."
The enormity of the
tragedy around us seems insurmountable, like nothing we could do would make a
difference. There is so much evil in
the world, and in those who want us to be afraid of it, how can we possibly
heal that? I have learned through my own
losses that asking why is not the answer, but asking who – WHO is walking with
you through your pain and how are you supporting one another together – is the
question to ask to find peace and healing.
Karl Paulnack is a former professor at Boston Conservatory of Music, and now Dean of the Ithaca College School of Music. In September 2014 he gave a
welcome address at Boston Conservatory addressing the power of music to bring people together and help them heal:
In
September of 2001 I was a resident of Manhattan. On the morning of September
12, 2001 I reached a new understanding of my art and its relationship to the
world. I sat down at the piano that morning at 10 AM to practice as was my
daily routine; I did it by force of habit, without thinking about it. I lifted
the cover on the keyboard, and opened my music, and put my hands on the keys
and took my hands off the keys. And I sat there and thought, does this even
matter? Isn't this completely irrelevant? Playing the piano right now, given
what happened in this city yesterday, seems silly, absurd, irreverent,
pointless. Why am I here? What place has a musician in this moment in time? Who
needs a piano player right now? I was completely lost. And
then I, along with the rest of New York, went through the journey of getting
through that week. I did not play the piano that day, and in fact I
contemplated briefly whether I would ever want to play the piano again. And
then I observed how we got through the day.
At
least in my neighborhood, we didn't shoot hoops or play Scrabble. We didn't
play cards to pass the time, we didn't watch TV, we didn't shop, we most certainly
did not go to the mall. The first organized activity that I saw in New York, on
the very evening of September 11th, was singing. People sang. People sang
around fire houses, people sang "We Shall Overcome". Lots of people
sang America the Beautiful. The first organized public event that I remember
was the Brahms Requiem, later that week, at Lincoln Center, with the New York
Philharmonic. The first organized public expression of grief, our first
communal response to that historic event, was a concert. That was the beginning
of a sense that life might go on.
The people of New York City didn’t return
evil with evil – they sang, they cared, they loved one another, they embraced
one another. God’s call for us today is
to overcome the evil in the world with love – love for our family, neighbors
and the strangers around us.
As you’re watching the news and
considering all the evil in the world – conflicts in Israel/Palestine, Beirut,
and Syria, the terror attack in San Bernadino, and gun violence in hundreds of
cities across the country to numerous to name, lets not shake our heads in futility thinking that we cannot make a difference. It is God’s call for us to love and share for people in need, whether they are mourning for someone they lost in a terror
attack, or if they live down the road from us and don’t have enough food to
feed their family this week (a different kind of terror all its own). Be there
for friends who are grieving and mourning.
Just BE with them, and share your hospitality and care. The reason we meet as a church and place such
importance on being together as a community is that we ARE futile alone. TOGETHER, as Christians we are stronger, and more able to create change and
spread God’s love. We could all pray
alone at home, and worship God alone in our kitchens and our backyards but to be Christians
caring for the Lord’s people in need, and mourning with those who mourn
TOGETHER we are stronger, and TOGETHER we make a difference. Just like the assembled masses of people in
New York City singing together the evening of 9/11, alone you would have felt
impossibly overwhelmed, but together they mourned, they cried, they worshipped
and were together.
I always found it interesting that certain groups of fundamental Christians protested the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. They insisted it promoted
witchcraft and evil. I am certain
though, that they have never actually read the books because Ms. Rowling actually based
the series on, not only other classic literature like works by C.S. Lewis,
Shakespeare and others, but on the Bible and Christ’s love in sacrificing
himself for us. The central theme of the
books is that Harry Potter’s mother, Lily sacrificed herself to save him from
the villain therefore giving him a power the evil villain could never have –
the power of love. Throughout the series
Harry’s mentor Professor Dumbledore tells him over and over again that his
strength and power are because of his mother’s love for him running through his
veins. This theme is universal – the
power of love to overcome evil – we find it everywhere in our culture and it is
because it is the truth. Love really can
overcome evil, but only if we are united together in our work and in our
devotion to sharing the love of Christ through our actions.
Have you ever heard the quote “Preach the
gospel at all time, and if necessary use words” ? It is often attributed to St. Francis of
Assissi, and its truth is absolute – often our actions are the strongest means
to convey the message of Christ’s love for us in the Gospels. Especially in our media saturated culture when words are becoming so meaningless, actions are more important than ever.
The movie “Love Actually” follows the love stories of many different
people at Christmastime in London. In it, Hugh Grant plays the fictitious Prime
Minister and opens the movie with this quote, as scenes of "normal" (i.e. not actors) people
meeting each other at Heathrow Airport play on the screen:
Whenever
I get gloomy with the state of the world I think about the arrivals gate at
Heathrow Airport. General opinion’s
starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don’t
see that. Seems to me that love is
everywhere. Often its not particularly
dignified or newsworthy, but its always there.
Fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives; boyfriends,
girlfriends, old friends. When the
planes hit the twin towers as far as I know none of the phone calls from the
people on board were messages of hate or revenge. They were all messages of love. If you look for it I’ve got a sneaky feeling
you’ll find that love actually is all around.
Let's be the people in the world
helping to spread the love of Christ all around without fear of others, for
Christ is in the other.
