Kosovar and
Columbine
The Kosovar ethnic cleansing has been putting a damper
on my spirit for weeks. The relentless bombing of Serbia
further darkens my outlook. And then the Columbine high
school killings really dragged down my soul. Of course,
evil runs through all these tragedies but I think
Christians are well advised to resist objectification of
evil exclusively in the form of errant youths, political
thugs, and governments exercising a power beyond their
wisdom. Such projection of evil upon others allows us
Christians to deny the thug, the terrorist, the egomaniac
lurking inside us.
In a recent Sunday morning discussion about the
Littleton, Colorado, tragedy, most of the participants
believed something like that could never happen in Hong
Kong. The assumption is that we are protected in some way
that affluent and suburban America is not. One local
resident then pointed out the high rate of suicide among
Hong Kong youths. Do are kids, when the pressure is too
great, just kill themselves rather than others?
The meaning of the doctrine of Original Sin is that
each of us has a shadow side where we hide our anger,
selfishness, jealousy, pride, insecurity, wildness or
destructiveness.
We deal most responsibly and spiritually by
recognising these dark qualities do not spare the
Christian heart. When we deny them to ourselves we risk
projecting those shadowy traits upon others, inflicting
our family, friends, co-workers with our errant side, or
worse, projecting upon stereotypical groups, as
apparently the boys did in Colorado, the blame for our
condition.
Our faith teaches us to accept the devils running
about in our hearts and by inviting God to help us to
tame them and see them converted into little Christs.
Richard Rohr, a Catholic priest, says, "God calls us
to take the path of the inner truth…and that means
taking responsibility for 'everything' that's in you: For
what pleases you and for what you're ashamed of…In
the spiritual life, nothing goes away. There is no
heavenly garbage dump. Everything belongs."
Remember, too, that the Eternal Light is often
discovered during a dark night of the soul. Others have
experienced dark nights. Even Jesus. Check out the
psalms. And remember that Jesus said: "I stand at the
door and knock and if anyone gives me entry, I will come
in and stay with him."
Pastor Gene
Preston
|