Psalm 93, 96
Jeremiah 5:20-31
Romans 3: 19-31
John 7: 1-13
A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land...but what will you do in the end? (Jeremiah 5:30-31)
I am writing the night after the prayer service for the Ahimbisibwe family. My initial glance of the assigned readings focuses on these words: wicked; weapons of war; judgment; senseless; wicked (again); evil deeds; punish; avenge; wrath. Dark words for dark days.
Our brains crave order in this disorderly world. We try to make sense of things that are beyond nonsensical, and find explanations for things that cannot ever be explained.
I force myself to re-read, and I settle on the above verses from Jeremiah. There has been, and always will be, darkness and pain in this world. Unspeakable things happen to righteous, beautiful, beloved people. So, how do we honor the lives of a scholar and pastor and his beautiful family? How do we counteract the darkness? How do we sustain our faith?
In the end, we can be completely and utterly consumed by the awfulness, or we can persevere despite it.
What will we do in the end? We will choose light. We will choose love. We will choose hope. We will praise God. Why? Not because we sustain our faith, but because our faith will sustain us.
Joanne Polansky