Thursday, October 05, 2006

A powerful witness

I wonder if I could do the same, in that circumstance:

(CNN) -- A grieving grandfather told young relatives not to hate the gunman who killed five girls in an Amish schoolhouse massacre, a pastor said on Wednesday.

"As we were standing next to the body of this 13-year-old girl, the grandfather was tutoring the young boys, he was making a point, just saying to the family, 'We must not think evil of this man,' " the Rev. Robert Schenck told CNN.

"It was one of the most touching things I have seen in 25 years of Christian ministry."


Read the whole article here. Via Streak.

I'm guessing that forgiveness will have to be a daily choice for them, not a one time deal. Sometimes Christian don't let themselves feel their grief because they feel obligated to forgive those who have hurt them.

But still, these folks are trying to live out Jesus' costly demands of discipleship, being living contradictions to the powers of violence and death, showing the world that there can be another way live: the way of God's reconciling love. It's quite a witness.

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