What happened to Sunday?

Wow, I spent the week slipping around and completely spaced out blogging. I ran out of time on Sunday evening and then it was gone. As the week has rolled out many things have happened. And, although most of it was good we are all haunted by the uprising on Tuesday and the claim it took on people's lives.

The uprising Libya and the loss of ambassador to the U.S. Christ Stevens has inundated the airwaves. Today's gospel reading was Luke 6:27-38 which is Jesus' treatise on love and it is one of the most challenging accounts to live out. I used it Monday in the Theology of Leadership class I am co-teaching as an indicator for a Spirituality of Liberation (taken from the work of Jon Sobrino). The mandates of love are not easy, yet they are real and they call us to step outside of ourselves into the stream of hatred that may face us. The violence we experience is not easy to deal with through love. It is much easier to write people off as whack-jobs, or fundamental extremists than to attempt to understand what is not free in them. While also recognizing their suffering is real and the attacks outward may be misplaced and cruel, yet they demand a response in compassion. This is difficult for me. I think of people who have wronged me in the past and know there are some wounds that still fester with a toxic hint of hatred. It is not easy to admit, and it is even harder to attempt to heal those places. This journey, as follower of the Gospels, has brought me to realize that today I must heal these areas. I must look at those who betray and figure out how to love them. I have not lost a loved one to violence in the way that we have lost Chris Stevens. I pray that those who knew him find solace in love and no matter how they experience the pain of his loss can experience humanity in the lives of those who killed him. As I reflect on this I also know that many other people's lives came to a tragic end on Tuesday and hope that their families find the support and love they need to move through it, as well. This is the only thing I can offer out of  Jesus' words of love.