| 7:12a |
September 11... 7 years later
Interesting gospel reading today:
Jesus said to his disciples:
“To you who hear I say, love your enemies,
do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you,
pray for those who mistreat you.
To the person who strikes you on one cheek,
offer the other one as well,
and from the person who takes your cloak,
do not withhold even your tunic.
Give to everyone who asks of you,
and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
For if you love those who love you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners love those who love them.
And if you do good to those who do good to you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners do the same.
If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners lend to sinners,
and get back the same amount.
But rather, love your enemies and do good to them,
and lend expecting nothing back;
then your reward will be great
and you will be children of the Most High,
for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
Be merciful, just as also your Father is merciful.
“Stop judging and you will not be judged.
Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.
Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give and gifts will be given to you;
a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you.”
Notice it does not say:
If the Taliban, who live in Afghanistan, strike you on the cheek, strike the cheek of their neighbor Iraq.
Please do not accuse me of being a deomcrat. I am neither democrat nor republican.
Please also do not accuse me of not mourning Sept 11. If it happened all over again, I would still wear red, white, and blue on the days to come and mourn the horrible tragedy that happened to our country. I am in no way trying to minimize anyone who felt loss on that day. I did. It was kind of an ending of an ignorant innocence that I happened to enjoy. I really thought we were invincible. It's too bad that so many people had to die for me to grow up.
If you are so inclined, please pray for wisdom and guidance for the U.S. today. |