This last week contained so many emotionally stirring events that it is hard to know what to address. Some of the highpoints included:

- Several school shootings
- Discussions about arming teachers
- The Congressman Foley sexual harassment resignation
- Controversy about Sanctuary Cities that prevent police from doing their job
- The rapidly disintegrating war effort in Iraq

I could write a complete blog about each of these topics but since we are already being overwhelmed by the media attention on all of this I see no point in echoing their comments here. I do feel compelled to express my feelings on one event in particular, though.

All school shootings are horrendous of course, but the execution-style shootings of the seven young Amish girls in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania has to top the list in terms of cold-blooded assaults upon innocent victims. The revelation that two of the girls (sisters) stepped forward when the shooter said he was going to kill everyone and asked him to kill them first (and leave everyone else alone) is heart-rending. That extraordinary demonstration of Christian willingness for self-sacrifice was followed up by a display of Christian forgiveness when the Amish visited the widow of the shooter to comfort and pray for her and her dead husband, who had shot himself after shooting those first two girls and five others.

Regardless of one's personal spiritual leanings, one cannot help but be moved deeply by the way these gentle people reacted to events that horrified the rest of the nation beyond words. The Amish took a horrible tragedy and turned it into a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate how Jesus told his followers to live when he delivered his sermon on the mount over two thousand years ago. The Amish proved that loving and forgiving your enemies really is possible and it gave pause to a resolutely cynical world who watched in wonder. In this dark time, when religion is being used to justify unspeakable horrors around the globe, it is refreshing to be brought back to the peaceful center of the hurricane by the gentle Amish.

Like everyone else, my prayers and thoughts of support are with the families of these young and stunningly innocent victims who died willingly like sacrificial lambs to bring a sliver of peace into the world for a short time. We all morn their loss but more importantly perhaps, we rejoice at the message their deaths delivered; that the message of Jesus is real and relevant for us all if we choose to accept it. We owe the Amish a great debt for continuing to nurture the seeds of true Christianity in the face of advancing civilization and chaos.


Those are my thoughts. Do you agree, or disagree?