Complexity

"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an     enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."                              - Martin Luther King, Jr.

I woke, as many did on Monday, to the news of Osama Bin Laden's death.  I was not cheered by the news.  As Martin Luther King's quote reminds me, there's enough hate and death in the world already.  And although I know this is 'mission accomplished' for our military, I don't like to think of my government participating in assassination.  I know all is considered fair in war, and we have been led to consider our struggle with terrorism and those who perpetrate it a war, but I can't help but wondering how fighting terrorism with violence and death will get us anywhere.  I do understand what has happened probably needed to happen, and I do believe that God works through all things - through this - even through 9/11.  I understand that those who paraded and cheered in the streets when they heard the news were feeling that something wrong had been made right - the bad guy got what was coming to him.  But I just can't find it anywhere in myself to cheer about it.  And I certainly can't bring myself to name it justice when it feels to me so much more like vengeance.  "Vengeance is mine, says the Lord."  I look at the world around us - self-righteous, power hungry and violent - and I see us taking into our own hands what we need to leave to God everywhere I look. 

When I try to understand what has happened in this, I just keep coming up with more questions and fewer and fewer answers.  So what does my faith tell me?  Jesus tells us to love our enemies.  But Jesus also overturned the tables of the money changers in the temple when he judged they had crossed a line. The death of Bin Laden seems a complicated mix of both polarities (although, I keep thinking, Jesus did not kill the moneychangers.)   All I know for sure is that I wouldn't change places with the president of the United States for all the tea in China.  This world is a very large and complicated place, and leadership is one of the hardest things there is to do in the midst of great complexity.

I know God works through all things and so I pray that what has happened will all lead to God's reconciliation somehow.  Praying is the only thing I can do about something that seems so big and completely out of my hands.  So I pray for those who lost loved ones in the twin towers, or in the Pentagon, or on a plane on 9/11.  And I pray for those who have been victims of suicide bombers or terrorist attacks anywhere.  And I pray for soldiers and civilians who are caught in the crossfire and confusion of war.  And I pray for the leaders who must decide and act, even when what is truly right and just is beyond their human ability to discern.  And I pray for those who believe they are meting out justice when they do something violent, no matter who they are.  And I pray that God forgives us all for allowing the world be like this.