Thoughts on this Morning's News

When I ask, "What can my faith offer me this morning?" I think of Ezekiel 33:11.

The NRSV translates it: "Say to them, As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel? "

If my congregation asked me to speak to the occasion of the death of Osama bin Laden, that verse would pretty much preach itself.

I don't feel any sense of exultation, but there is a sort of equilibrium that's been restored. The images from  9/11 that are all over the media today now have a sort of book-end. And perhaps the news can bring a measure of solace to those who were so grievously impacted.

We who grew up in front of TV westerns have an instinct that says the bad guys ought to be caught and punished by the end of each episode.

The Navy SEAL operation that finally brought Bin Laden to justice reportedly took less time than "Gunsmoke."

I remember talking at presbytery a week after 9/11, with the Rev. Robert F. Smylie, who staffed the Presbyterian Office at the United Nations. He suggested we might choose between war and a police action in response to the acts of terrorism, and that the choice of metaphors would be critical for our future.

My prayer today is that we might use this occasion to move a few steps away from "war on terror" and in the direction of "policing the wicked."

--Jack Lohr, Interim Pastor

PS: I got this note from my colleague Charles Barton: "I appreciate your thoughts and the courage to put them on your blog.  I join you in your prayer!"