Orlando and people of the Light

          The tragic events of this past weekend brought to mind a very brief yet profound exchange between Jesus and Simon Peter.  Huge crowds had been following the Lord Jesus.  They were amazed by His miraculous healings.  They savored His miraculous feedings.  They enjoyed His authoritative preaching...until now.  His teachings became harder and harder to accept, for He destroyed their preset notions of a political messiah/warrior who would free them from the tyranny of Rome.
          He didn't come to free them from Rome...He came to free them--and us--from the ultimate slavery of sin and death.
          But as a result of all this, we're told in John 6 that many of His followers "turned back and no longer walked with Him."  And here is Jesus' moving question and Peter's powerful response: "So Jesus said to the Twelve, 'Do you want to go away as well?'  Simon Peter answered Him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have to come, that You are the Holy One of God.'" (John 6:66-69)
          Isn't that in many ways our heart's cry on this sorrowful Monday?  We don't understand this level of evil, this staggering loss of life, this monstrous tragedy.  There are no simple explanations.  There are no pat cliches.  There are no easy answers.  And most definitely there should be no politicizing and grandstanding in the rubble of such horror.
          No, this is absolutely not the time for any of that.  Instead, we simply mourn together.  We pray together.  We care for one another.  We seek to be there with and for each other.
          And we point to the only One with the words of life.  The words of healing.  The words of forgiveness.  The words of hope.  Where else can we turn but to our Savior who came down into this messy, dark, lost world that we might be reconciled, not only to God but to one another?  He came that we might be saved, not only for eternal life but for daily living.  That we might be loved and forgiven, not only for eternity but for each other.
          And that we might hear, receive, and believe His words of eternal life not only for our salvation but that we might share them with people in desperate need of light and hope and grace.  Jesus is our beautiful hope.  He is our shining light in the inky darkness.  He is our feast of grace in a starving desert.  He is the Way out of this morass.
         If we have the words of life, grace, forgiveness and grace, how dare we not share them?  How dare we not share them with unconditional love.  Share them with gentleness.  Share them without judging or assuming.  Share them without prejudice.  Share them as humble, underserving, grateful bearers of the Light...and we seek simply to lovingly share that Light with others.
         No, we don't have the answers for all this senseless violence and hate, but we have something infinitely, gloriously better.  We have Jesus...and we share Him joyfully, lovingly, unashamedly with those in pain, in darkness, in fear.  He died for every member of ISIS, every hater, every person with whom we disagree with every fiber of our being, just as surely as He died for you and for me.  "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)
         We join with the Psalmist in declaring, "Whom have I in heaven but You?  And there is nothing on earth that I desire beside You.  My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." (Ps.73:25-26)
          Orlando, world, what we have we give to you--the beautiful, gracious, loving, forgiving, merciful, powerful, holy Savior.  He has the words of eternal life.  Oh fellow Christ-followers, might we share His words.  Might we share Him.  And might His Light shine forth as never before in these dark days...that the world may know and see how good and great and full of grace He is.  
           The time has come to be the loving people of the Light.
           To God be the glory.