fame is vanity

Better is a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who will no longer take advice. One can indeed come out of prison to reign, even though born poor in the kingdom. I saw all the living who, moving about under the sun, follow that youth who replaced the king; there was no end to all those people whom he led. Yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a chasing after wind.

Ecclesiastes 4:13-16; NRSVue

In the decades I have lived I have seen public officials who truly were public servants, invested fully in the work they had to do, concerned only about that, for the good of people, for the good of the nation, even for the good of the world. Contrast that to people who are seeking fame, to be remembered. Sadly those are the kind that often are remembered as infamous, not famous. Adolph Hitler comes to mind and there’s a host of others.

The best of leaders will all have an asterisk beside their name. All are flawed, humans with feet of clay. And there will always be legitimate questions about their work, leadership, what they did or did not do. Abraham Lincoln comes to mind. As great as he was, he was a person of his times. He may have done well with what he understood, and there may have been little if no escape given the nation as it was at the time, but one can’t help but wonder if some other path might have averted the Civil War in which over 600,000 died (“between 620,000 to 750,000 soldiers…along with an undetermined number of civilian casualties”).

How do we want to be remembered? What value is there in fame? What about the countless number of people loved and appreciated in their family and community for good reason, little if at all known outside of that circle?

God knows. God remembers. When it’s all said and done, let’s serve one another in love, grow in that. And have a heart of compassion with feet on the ground for the people around us in need, as well as those beyond us. In the end, that’s what counts. Fame itself is vanity. It is why one is remembered and what for.

 

no city or country here

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval.

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance, and he set out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith, with Sarah’s involvement, he received power of procreation, even though he was too old, because he considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, “as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.”

All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better homeland, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.

You have not come to something that can be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them. (For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death.” Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.”) But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

Therefore Jesus also suffered outside the city gate in order to sanctify the people by his own blood. Let us then go to him outside the camp and bear the abuse he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-16; 12:18-24; 13:12-16; NRSVue

I never ceased to be amazed at the Christian devotion present for national causes. If we would humbly be just as much concerned about international causes, it would be better. But it seems like we’re not as well versed in what Scripture says, in good theology as we might think. I remember as a nine-year-old boy, mistakenly walking between two people conversing who were obviously foreigners, and being so embarrassed, wanting to return and apologize, but somehow didn’t. We have better instincts at times than the nationalistic, sectarian air we often breathe and imbibe.

The above passages from the book of Hebrews make it clear that our primary citizenship is not here, but in the new “heavenly Jerusalem.” Not in the present Jerusalem, Washington D.C., or any other city here on earth. It’s not like we’re to neglect to do good, to share what we have for the benefit of others. It’s not like we’re not to pray and hope for the good of the nation in which we live. It’s not like we’re to retreat and not advocate for a just peace, for justice in an all too often unjust, greedy world in which power all too often resides at the end of the barrel of a gun, in military might.

Our allegiance as followers of Christ is to one Lord, with one hope in a world which when it’s all said and done has another goal altogether. It might be dressed up in religious, even Christian terms. But the means for the supposedly good end are always a betrayal as to just what that end is. If you use violence and force of whatever kind to achieve the goal, then everyone can be assured that the goal is not of Christ, even if it is Christian in an historical (not biblical) sense.

This world is wonderful, and we can find good most anywhere, although there are political, national and organizational entities which are not at all good in themselves. Even when we think there’s much good in whatever entity we’re considering, we must remember that we’re looking for something better, much better. We challenge all the present entities not to mention even ourselves, our churches, remembering that we are not imagining that we’re the new Jerusalem ourselves, that we’ve arrived. We want to be challenged and to challenge others in the light of God’s good will. Showing that in our humble penitence, lives lived, good works, as well as advocacy for a better world now. But in faith we do so as those who don’t imagine that this old world could ever be the end all.

human effort and the grace of God

His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence. Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust and may become participants of the divine nature. For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with excellence, and excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love. For if these things are yours and are increasing among you, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For anyone who lacks these things is blind, suffering from eye disease, forgetful of the cleansing of past sins. Therefore, brothers and sisters, be all the more eager to confirm your call and election, for if you do this, you will never stumble. For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.

2 Peter 1:3-11; NRSVue

There has probably been nothing more controversial since the Reformation in Protestant circles when considering the break from Roman Catholicism than the issue of God’s grace and human works. An illustration in point is Martin Luther’s disdain for the letter of James, calling it “a right strawy epistle” and from what I can gather, while not excluding James from Scripture, put it on a kind of secondary level. There has been what seems to me is an unnecessary wedge driven between Paul’s writings and the book of James. Paul’s emphasis on salvation by God’s grace does not at all exclude what we can even call the necessity of good works following. The Anabaptists as part of the “radical reformation,” saw no contradiction to God’s saving grace in the necessity of works following. Neither did others like Calvin, though for such, human effort was still questioned I think, if not explicitly, implicitly in at least much of the theology present in their churches.

We’re not saved by our own human effort, but human effort is evident in our salvation, or we could say follows, maybe in a way significantly mysterious to us, always accompanies it. This can get into a discussion of original sin and how whatever power humans are under is penetrated by God’s grace. The salvation in Christ is likened as the light in the darkness, so that we don’t want to take away from that at all. Human effort alone, no matter how well meaning, according to Scripture is not enough. But no matter what the person understands, human effort should never be despised. There may well indeed be something of the power of God’s grace present and moving in that. I think we can see much of this in Paul’s writings, as well as elsewhere in the New Testament and in the rest of Scripture, for that matter.

But to the point of this post. Yes, our effort matters, and it turns out that it matters a lot. According to the passage above in 2 Peter, it actually makes all the difference in a certain way. Yes, on the basis of God’s life, power, and promises, but if one just goes on that and does nothing, then there is no grand entrance into the eternal kingdom of Christ, but rather a forgetting that past sins have been forgiven, even blindness and we might say a lostness in living. Consider what one is to add to their faith according to the passage, then consider what faith looks like without those things: excellence, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, mutual affection, love. At least we can imagine that to the writer such things would be diminished.

Then there’s the matter of making every effort to add those things to or as part of our faith to confirm our calling and election. In the words of the NRSVue:

Therefore, brothers and sisters, be all the more eager to confirm your call and election

That effort is a confirmation of what we already have, no effort indicating that we may lack it altogether. This passage paints it black and white, no gray. You either go all out to lay hold of what God’s grace offers, or you don’t and therefore you don’t receive it, or fall short of its fullness. I’m not sure that we have to draw lines and imagine exactly what the outcomes will be. In fact the plain reading of this passage does not make following through on this an issue of salvation at all. Instead I think this is simply a call to move us together and as individuals to respond with a pointed effort on our part, to be growing in the intention of goal of God’s grace.

God’s grace as we can see in the above passage, and many places elsewhere never excludes human effort. Quite the contrary. Even the misguided thought that we have to quit doing anything, usually always in a concern that if we do anything, it amounts to us trying to earn our salvation, is ironically so it seems to me itself an effort, and certainly never understood in those circles as simply doing nothing or doing whatever one feels like doing. We can’t earn our salvation, for sure. This is a call to be fully tuned into and moving in accordance with the salvation already present for us in Jesus. Because of that, we’re to give it our all.

what is hanging in the balance now?

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, a criminal, or even as a mischief maker. Yet if any of you suffers as a Christian, do not consider it a disgrace, but glorify God because you bear this name. For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God; if it begins with us, what will be the end for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And

“If it is hard for the righteous to be saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

Therefore, let those suffering in accordance with God’s will entrust their lives to a faithful Creator, while continuing to do good.

1 Peter 4:12-19; NRSVue

Wherever you are as an American on the political spectrum here, you’ll have grave concerns about the past, present and future. We have lived in a privileged existence, and it looks like that is under great stress at this time. One thing most Americans agree on is that democracy itself is at stake here. There is even a so-called Christian disdain against democracy, aligned to some extent with the Christendom of the past, focused on implementing a “Christian” order. That is another subject in itself.

Another matter is just where our priorities should lie as followers of Christ, Christians in that sense. We now live in a different setting in America compared to those who lived at the time of Peter’s writing. Rome was then in charge with no ands, ifs or buts about it. In the rule of Caesar, there was no representation of the people. Now we have that, and as Christians we do well to advocate for what we consider to be good. We still have that freedom at the moment, but the problem now is that everything seems more than less partisan in the limited two-party system here.

What has happened in my lifetime since the 1960s and gaining momentum from the 1980s and 90s up to the present day is a culture war which initially was a reaction to the government telling a Christian institution that it could no longer bar Blacks from its spaces. That was the basis of the founding for the “Moral Majority.” After a few years abortion became the issue which they found united and gave momentum to their cause. The fallout from this race based, abortion, religious freedom platform has been great. There is little to no incentive to work with the other side on issues like abortion, and all kinds of other issues. We’re at a place now where there’s one side spurred on by Christians who want to take over entirely, be the ones in charge, with others in line according to that. So it’s a challenging time since there are a host of Jesus-followers and others who are opposed to that.

What is hanging in the balance now? I think for us as Christ-followers, it’s a time of purging, salvation for us in that sense. What does our faith tell us about the good we ought to be doing? Where do our priorities lie? Is it about our own protection and freedom? Or is it with the values which Jesus taught us: to love our neighbor, to be the neighbor when anyone is in need. To welcome the stranger, the refugee. To advocate for fairness for all. To stand against racial and gender discrimination, particularly right now against the transgender community. To stand against war and the destruction of innocents such as is happening in Gaza, both Israel and Hamas utterly failing in their use of horrific violence.

So all of that and more are important to us as Christ-followers. We won’t be uniform exactly in how we think and approach such matters. But there are certain things that forever should mark us. We don’t advocate force of any kind. We rather appeal by words, and mainly by works, by what we do. We are willing to stand with those who are considered the dredge of society, in the way, a nuisance or even danger which needs to be pushed to the side, cancelled, even eliminated. We stand for the humanity of all. We look for solutions to problems, not imagining there will be perfection in such in this life but pushing toward that ideal.

With that, what do people see in us? Democrats? Republicans? MAGA followers? Patriotic Americans? You fill in the blank. Rather, shouldn’t they be seeing people who are not known as any such, but rather as Christians in the sense of which Peter talks about above? Followers of Jesus, as Jesus taught and lived in the four gospel accounts? Yes, that. That alone is our identity from which we live. There’s no doubt that we all have our opinions on political matters of this world. But we are in allegiance to one Lord, Jesus. Our following of him means that all peoples are embraced as those whom God loves. We continue on in that way, expecting difficulty, maybe even suffering. But the only way we’re to live in this life as followers of Jesus.

sleeves rolled up with a heart to work

So we rebuilt the wall, and all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.

Nehemiah 4:6; NRSVue

Nehemiah is a most interesting book, written in a different time. Walls for large cities were important for protection. And in that era unlike now, God’s people were confined to one land, one space, as a national entity. It was supposed to be a nation set apart as God’s light to the world, but whether in God’s will or not, had a fighting force from the beginning, and eventually became more or less amalgamated with the other nations so that its light as to God’s will for the nations was all but snuffed out.

Yet God’s work went on as we see in Nehemiah. We compare and contrast the book like everything else with the revelation given to us of Jesus in the four gospels. That said, we can learn a lot from this book.

And one of the main points is the importance of having a heart to work together for a common, good cause in God’s will. Nehemiah was troubled and became the leader of a movement to rebuild broken down Jerusalem. As a good leader, he oversaw the project, and was able with the help of God and others to thwart hostile opposition to the work.

We all have our humble part as part of the community of faith in God’s work in the world. And whatever we do, it should be related to that. We live in houses or have responsibilities related to providing for our families, and all of that should be connected with God’s will and work in the world. God will give us wisdom as we endeavor to have our minds set in that direction. With hearts to do our part in God’s redemptive, saving, freeing work in the world.

how to overcome a condemning heart, a guilty conscience

We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers and sisters. How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?

Little children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth. And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us, for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God, and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.

And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.

1 John 3:16-24; NRSVue

If we take moral responsibility seriously in this life, we’re going to realize there’s always something that we did wrong and something else that we should have done, and something else we may have not done good enough in our minds. There are a host of ways that we can feel guilty and condemned.

We are told that laying down our lives for the believers in our midst means helping those in material need, doing what we can, be it big or little and everything in between. It is then evident that indeed God’s love resides in our hearts. Through adherence to the simple commandment to believe in the name of Jesus and to love one another, we can indeed overcome our guilty conscience (see helpful NET footnotes in link above), and condemning heart which can often plague us.

The commandments we’re to keep are again simple: believe in Jesus’s name and love one another. As we do that and seek to do all that pleases God, not only is our heart set at rest in God’s presence, but we have boldness in prayer that God will answer our simple, humble prayers. Our hearts set free to live in the love of God in Christ, a love intended for all.

“together for the long haul” mentality

Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

Acts 4:32-35; NRSVue

In our consumer culture, we pick and choose and that goes for everything, after all, why not! And that certainly includes churches. I’m not one to want to go back to “the good ole’ days” because I think there’s inevitably a selective look back, into a nostalgia that forgets or even brushes away obvious problems. But one feature of the past that I do think had its advantages is the idea of a parish church. I admire those who have been in one church their entire lifetime or have stayed in the same tradition of churches when they’ve moved. The idea of a church which retains most all of its members is less and less a prospect given how people work nowadays.

But what should be one of the staples of any church? Surely one of them is being in it, in life fully together in the long haul. That includes through thick and thin, when there’s disagreement, disappointment, even failure of different kinds. We need to patiently include all, even those who don’t have this vision, but at the core of our being and doing, committed to this.

This is not about selling everything and living together in a community like the Hutterites, though in itself, that’s certainly not wrong or bad. However precisely we work it out, it certainly will include our material resources including money. We are to be generous and systematic in our giving, if I understand the Bible and the teaching of Christ and the apostles correctly. We do all that we can together to make sure that everyone in the community of believers is taken care of in resources and in receiving the help they need.

It seems to me that if we commit ourselves to praying for each other, but not helping each other in practical, down to earth ways, then our prayers lose much of their power and efficacy. “Thoughts and prayers” mean nothing if we don’t do our part to see that they’re answered. And as we take care of each other, that same love spills out in “good Samaritan” ways outside our “four walls.”

One heart, one mind, one soul, one body in Christ.

do all in love (or nothing doing)

Keep alert; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.

1 Corinthians 16:13-14; NRSVue

There seems to be a lot of hate nowadays. It’s been built up like in a pressure cooker for decades now. Some of us were to some degree oblivious to that, but no one can be anymore. The steam is coming out full force.

The problem with this as always is that lives are at stake. I can hear something like this: “You’re darned right, and the only way to love is roll up our sleeves and do something about it.” Okay, I certainly agree that lives are at stake, though we might not be precisely on the same page. But regardless, just what should be done?

If you’re talking about violence, and too many are, then you’re not following Jesus and what comes after Jesus in the New Testament. Love never resorts to violence. I am not talking about defending one’s loved ones from harm’s way. I would do something myself, short of harming, certainly of fatally harming the perpetrator. Whatever we do we’re to do it in love. As we read earlier in this letter, it doesn’t matter how good it might seem, if it’s not done in love, it’s worthless (1 Corinthians 13).

We do need to consider more specifically what love is with a description of it. One can see it most clearly in Jesus, in his life and words, in all that follows. Add to or subtract from any part of that, and you no longer have the love described here. Which to me means it isn’t real love or at least not the purest form of love.

One last thing, each of us should love no matter what we’re going through. It is a form of faith, even true (not the phony) spiritual warfare. It will help us. Above all we love in community, beginning with community in Jesus in our church gatherings and from that out to everyone. It’s not meant to be only an individual endeavor as important as that is. We’re in this together and love is becoming complete only when that’s the case.

So let’s love, and be steadfast and active always and forever in love.

the fight we’re in (and not in)

I myself, Paul, appeal to you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you but bold toward you when I am away!— I ask that when I am present I need not show boldness by daring to oppose those who think we are acting according to human standards. Indeed, we live as humans but do not wage war according to human standards, for the weapons of our warfare are not merely human, but they have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ. We are ready to punish every disobedience when your obedience is complete.

2 Corinthians 10:1-6

This is the beginning of one of my favorite parts of Scripture, 2 Corinthians 10-13. Some scholars have seen it almost as an addition or like a separate book from what precedes it. 2 Corinthians is one of my favorite books or letters of Scripture. I like what other scholars argue, that 10-13 actually goes well with the rest.

It’s really hard to transport a passage written in a different time with frankly a different ethic among Christians. Back then it would easily mean something quite different than what it seems to mean in too many quarters today. Just go to media and look at the pictures and rhetoric. Violence, violence, violence, and I’m not only referring to the destructive words, but at least symbols of action. “God and guns” are often paired together. Because of that, when we go to Paul, it’s hard to imagine that he’s much different. But in reality, he was entirely different, his gospel and teaching with the other letters of the New Testament, rooted in the life and teaching of Jesus as set forth in the four gospel accounts.

Even so, Paul’s words here do seem quite heavy handed. It was a different culture, the gospel breaking through but not yet changing a patriarchal culture, a difficult task any place and time. Just the same it was NOT cultic mind control, nor was it control of any kind. There’s a voluntariness beginning in the commitment of baptism which is basic to faith in and the following of Jesus, certainly such in community so that there’s an accountability each one to the other, the leaders having special responsibility in that.

Paul was about persuasion, clearly evident in his letters and in Acts. He used good sense (see Philemon), but he was not into psychological manipulation of others. He spoke the truth unvarnished and plainly, both in weakness and in love. It was the Spirit which made the difference through the message spoken and lived out of Christ crucified.

Instead, what we’re seeing today and for some decades now, and probably off and mostly on in history is Christians engaging in the methods and machinations of the world. Political power and control, what ends up amounting to political idolatry. What is baffling is how the Christians who talk the most about demonic possession and discerning that are the ones who are among those most caught up in what is quite the opposite of Paul. They and others follow a long line of sad examples dating back to the time of Constantine. But the church fathers who preceded that drawing from Jesus and the rest of the New Testament are quite the opposite.

Prayer. Scripture, the Word, the heart of that: the gospel. Community in Jesus, of learners, doubters, and followers together in the love of Christ which is never coercive. A grace which gives us space and enables and helps us to choose what is good, to love all others in the way of Christ. That was what Paul and those with him, the apostolic band were all about. Yes, humble participation in politics for the good of everyone especially on the local level, along with state and national, etc., surely included.

It’s necessary to say what they weren’t about. It definitely wasn’t physical coercion, following certain “super” charismatic leaders which we see Paul in confrontation with in 2 Corinthians 10-13. It’s not about some heavy handed top-down authority imposed on everyone. It’s not about thinking anyone human is so wonderful or great. All stuff Paul was encountering. No, none of that. And we could add more of what it is and isn’t.

That’s what we as Christ-followers in community and individually have to hone in on, give ourselves to. Realizing that there will be real world consequences in doing so, meaning we’ll have to walk carefully in wisdom. Our goal and passion, to be centered in Christ, to see that Christ-life growing and maturing among ourselves, and from that in good works of love often in collaboration with others in the world.

justice and mercy

He has told you, O mortal, what is good,
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice and to love kindness
and to walk humbly with your God?

Micah 6:8; NRSVue

For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

James 2:13; NRSVue

The words translated “kindness” in the Micah passage, NRSVue.

The Hebrew word חֶסֶד (khesed) is complex, sometimes translated “lovingkindness,” faithfulness,” or “loyal love.” It has also been understood as covenant loyalty.

NET footnote

Although the circumstances in the background of the two passages are different, the basic idea is the same: injustice or not doing what is right and good, and even by omission committing wrongs, as well as actual wrongdoings which are at the forefront of things.

I don’t consider “kindness” a bad translation in the NRSVue, as long as we remember that kindness is not actually merely niceness in mannerisms without any acts behind it. A graphic example of a kindness which ends up being kind in the way that can be (mis)understood today is expressing concern over bombings which kill children and women and others, while doing nothing about it. Good acts can begin with words, but words aren’t enough. Here’s a definition of kindness:

the quality of being friendly, generous and considerate… a kind act

Data from Oxford Languages

That doesn’t capture all that would be good in “kindness,” and again, we have to refer to the word in the original Hebrew as noted above. It is descriptive of God’s all pervasive, never ceasing love, a love which may at times seem hard, but is nevertheless love through and through. An effort to meet actual needs would have to be included to fulfill the true meaning of the word, at least of the Hebrew word it’s a translation of.

What is not needed nor should be desired is no accountability for truth or what is good and right. And I think based on the James passage, there should be an accent on mercy. Ultimately mercy triumphs over judgment. Given all that is so wrong in the world, and even wrong that is supported by God’s people, one is hard pressed not only to give in to despair, but to just be out and out angry and to not let go of such anger. And that’s more than understandable.

Anger is an inevitable part of being a responsible moral agent. Love is not love if not angry when love is violated. I tend to want to accentuate sadness rather than anger, but anger underlies or is on the edge of such sadness. James warns against anger, but it doesn’t forbid anger. We’re to be slow to become angry, also remembering that anger itself does not produce what is just, right and good. We can be moved by anger, but it’s an anger which we as humans can’t bear long without harm done.

Love is to prevail, an all-encompassing love: for the victims, but for the perpetrators as well. It’s certainly not a love worth being called love if the perpetrators are not held accountable. There needs to be justice always tempered with mercy. Mercy is not worth the name if justice is absent, and justice is not biblical if mercy is absent. One has to address what is wrong. Then and only then can mercy triumph over justice. Salvation means nothing at all if wrongs are brushed under the rug. Or maybe we should remove the story of Zacchaeus from the Bible (Luke 19:1-10).

At any rate, given all the madness going on in the world, we do well to hold on to both: justice and kindness/mercy/love. Remembering that we ourselves are in need of such. But taking full responsibility to be accountable for ourselves and to play our part with others in responsibly speaking out and doing what we can for what is right, good and just on the basis of love in this world.