Who knows what to say today?
Why do we keep killing people to teach them not to kill people?
Does the violence never end?
In our words, our works, and our choices every day
we do violence to ourselves and to others.
In one spot on our planet today they hung a despot - Saddam.
Soldiers and civilians died on the streets in the same country.
On the other side of the world, a nation mourns a past president - Gerald Ford.
Yet, some ask why lower the flag for a guy who was president so long ago?
Why not lower it every day that a US soldier or civilian is killed by violent action?
Hm. Would it ever fly high?
In another place an elderly woman folds laundry to get things in order
for the coming year. All clean and fresh.
Somewhere else a teenager contemplates suicide. Another gets drunk.
Another gets high. Yet another gets pregnant.
A child is abused, a wife is beaten. A store is robbed.
A grandmother weeps over her ailing grandchild.
And the news goes on and on.
A black preacher enlivens a group of white teenagers in a rural southern town. And a dozen or more young people step forward for prayer or conversion. And the band plays on.
WAIT. This is different. A welcome change in the midst of all the bad news.
An act of peace. An act of worship. An act of praise.
A protest against violence against each other and ourselves.
A call to be the best we have been called to be.
Thank you Brandon and Marcie for sharing God's gifts with us tonight.
Perhaps in some way this is a balance in our universe.
One by one barriers are broken.
This probably could not have happened 30 years ago in Alabama.
So we are blessed by this little ripple of faith exposed and hearts stretched tonight.
"If today you hear God's voice, harden not your heart."
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