Tags
law, love, love your neighbor as yourself, my voice, practice, Romans, shouting from the rooftops, solution, St. Paul, Texas shootings, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, theory, victims, violence
Our first real frost today has its effect on arthritic limbs even for those of us who feel it only in tiny places (one finger perhaps). It seems an appropriate metaphor for our state of heart after seeing the 26 faces of those killed in church on Sunday in a small town in Texas, victims from 17 months to 77 years old. “Frozen with shock,” disbelief and overwhelming sadness at this latest outrageous act, I read again today from Paul’s letter to the Romans. Whatever other commandments there may be are summed up, Paul says, in this saying, namely, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law. (ROM 13:10)
This is a time when “shouting from the rooftops” to get the attention of the masses seems the only recourse. Theory must move to practice in the face of such tragedy that seems to be escalating too rapidly to ignore any longer. What am I called to do to add my voice to a solution? It is not enough now to lament the violence. What is possible right now to me? To you? To us, in fulfillment of the law?
The Sophia Center for Spirituality 