There are milestones that mark events of transition in a community. For many in the US, 911 became a milestone that marked changing language, vision, and even the way many approach living. I fear that we witness another milestone this week with the tragedy that unfolded in Mumbai. This event does not appear to have been the outcry of desperate people fighting for a cause. So far, there is no credible claim of responsibility. Even the normal suspects look innocent. The events that unfolded were, in the words of one witness and victim, “pure evil in action”.
I do know that my view of a city I first passed through in 1955 is forever altered. The innocence of my childhood memories are shattered, left somewhere unknown and beyond my reach. Whatever I imagined possible, the extremes of people long downtrodden, exploited, and victimized, was exceeded by the realities of individuals that had lost contact with Hope’s hand. The scenes were not distant images with titles describing the location and name. The scenes were personal. They were places I had been, specific locations that gave birth to precious memories, and where friends still live. In every way that I might have described the city of a week ago, it has forever changed.
The evidence how a small community can alter our world is overwhelming. As evil as this is, what would happen if there were an equal yet opposite force representing all that is good? Imagine a group of yet unnamed individuals banding together, striking where least expected, for the cause of compassion, mercy, and above all love! How would the language of our community change?
You and I are members of a family with a mandate from God. Divinity “commissioned us to announce this [unconditional compassion, mercy, and love] in public, to bear solemn witness that he is in fact the One whom God destined as Judge of the living and dead.” (Acts 10.42) We have the language. We hold the principles within. We have the capabilities.
The opportunities are here. We can be the revolution.
