Greetings brothers and sisters and peace to each of you in the name of our Risen Savior, Jesus Christ.
I’m sure many of you were much like me this past Sunday evening–sleepy and ready for bed but glued to the news being broadcast that after nearly a decade of searching, and two decades of constant terror, Osama bin Laden had been killed by an American military action. Those of you who had gone to bed before the news broke certainly awoke to it the next morning.
It was the end of an era and our reactions were strong and complex. For me, I had never known a world in which Osama bin Laden was not a prominent figure. I was not quite two and a half years old when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan and bin Laden became a tenuous ally to America in our Cold War.
I was in junior high school when the Cold War came to an end and bin Laden had no hesitation expressing very publicly his hatred of America’s involvement in the Middle East and especially the Gulf War. I was in high school the first time the World Trade Center was bombed. I sat in journalism class and watched on the television as footage of shaken men and women, their faces covered in soot from the garage car bomb, emerged from those massive buildings.
And I will never forget where I was on September 11, 2001 at the precise moment the first plane struck. I’ll never forget the sickening feeling deep in my gut as it became clear that this was no freak accident, but a concentrated attack against America. I will forever remember the heartsick drive home from Charleston which had become a virtual ghost town as businesses closed and people retreated home to be with loved ones.
I will never forget the day the planes stopped flying.
So, it is no wonder that my initial response to hearing of Osama bin Laden’s death was relief. After a lifetime of hearing about the harsh treatment this man forced on his own people, allowing women and children to starve to enforce his strict moral code, and the countless lives lost in the terror attacks and wars that erupted around this one man’s fanaticism had lead me to a yearning to see justice done. How could I not be relieved? The world I had known my whole life was changed with one breaking news announcement.
But as I watched the celebrations that erupted following the President’s speech I have to admit that the relief began to fade and sorrow filled my heart. Sure, I am still pleased that justice has been served. I am relieved that this man’s reign of terror was stopped once and for all. But to see the young men and women in the street, dancing and laughing and celebrating a killing was hard to swallow.
Aren’t we better than that? I asked myself.
Monday morning I discovered I was not alone. Many of my Christian brothers and sisters were expressing a similar concern. Jim Wallis, a prominent Christian scholar, writer and activist, whom I have long admired, released a statement that attempted to strike a balance between the justified relief of justice being carried out and the proper Christian reaction to a killing. (Click here for the essay) Also, many other Christian organizations from around the globe were releasing statements–but as I read the words of others, I had to ask myself how I really and truly felt about this issue and what I believe.
I suppose the opening statements of the Gospel of John best express my thoughts:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it. (John 1:1-5, NRSV)
“All things came into being through him, and without him NOT ONE thing came into being.” This includes Osama bin Laden. No matter what path bin Laden chose to follow in his life, no matter how violent and destructive he had become, he was still a creation of God. Likewise, I can’t help but feel that God mourns the loss of even this one. Especially this one.
In Matthew 18:12 Jesus tells us, “If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray?” (NIV)
If God is a God of life as the Gospel of John tells us, then would God not try to seek out the one who had pursued the path of death and violence? And if that sheep could not be brought back to God’s fold, would God not mourn?
But on the flip side John also tells us that “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”
The darkness brought on by the terror attacks have had lingering effects: America is in the midst of its longest war ever; We have men and women in American uniforms fighting on three different fronts throughout the Middle East; On the home front, we have been at each other’s throats for years about what is the proper path for our nation to take.
Darkness has certainly tried to steal away the Light, but somehow Light just keeps shining through.
We’ve seen it with the so-called “Arab Spring” in which Arab and Muslim youths and young adults have decided to reject the strict, rigid radicalism endorsed by leaders like bin Laden and demand freedom–demand a new path to walk. And we saw it Sunday night when a mass-murder, a killer, a terrorist, was brought down by the same sword he lived by.
So, after much prayer and thought I’ve come to the conclusion that the quote that took Facebook by storm on Monday is the best one-sentence expression of my feelings: “I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy.”
I mourn the loss of those who died on 9/11. I mourn those who have died in this ten-year old war–those who wore the uniforms of allies and those who wore the uniforms of enemies as well as those who wore no uniform at all. I mourn the broken homes and the emptiness in countless lives around the globe left by violence… but I cannot celebrate. I will never celebrate a killing.
Instead, I will live into Romans 12:18, and hope you will, too:
If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
Blessings and Peace to you all,
Your Sister in Christ,
Pastor Amanda