"You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:14-16
The first thing I read this morning was a story from the Saturday edition of the Dayton Daily News from Dayton, Ohio. This past Friday night, as 300 people gathered for evening prayers at the Islamic Society of Greater Dayton, two men used a hand held spray can to spray a chemical irritant into the building. The window they used happened to be the nursery where mothers and children were gathered. But the fumes spread into the building as a whole and forced the evacuation of those in prayer.
To their credit, after evacuating the building, with the fire and police departments on the scene, the worshippers moved to a local school to finish their prayers. Later they went back to the mosque to collect their belongings.
The story isn't over. The perpetrators haven't been caught. And all I know is what I read in the paper. But I have a bad bad feeling about it.
It could have been a teenaged prank. It could have been something personal between someone inside and the ones who sprayed the chemicals. It could have been some rival Muslim group. Or it could have been some fringe Christian group that has bought into the fear that Muslims are out to kill or enslave all of us.
Whatever it was, it was a hate crime and an act of terrorism on American soil and it is fundamentally outrageous.
From the perspective of this Christian — such actions are NOT what Christians do. We don't use violence against those with whom we disagree. We don't burn crosses in people's yards. We don't bomb or gas or defile places where other people worship. We don't bomb abortion clinics or shoot doctors. If any of this were to be done by Christian people, at best, they would be acting out of the unredeemed, fear driven, old Adam, and their actions wouldn't be "Christian" but evil.
Jesus said that we are a light of the world, a city on a hill. We let our light shine before others when we set the example of our good works, when we act in loving and kind ways, with open hearts and open minds to all around us.
There is a mosque just down the street from my church. It has been there for years. I stopped by after 9/11 and knocked on the door but no one seemed to be there. I plan to try again this week. Just so I can meet someone who worships there. Just so I can shake their hand. Just so I can ask him to pray with me, and then I will pray for mutual understanding, for peace, and for justice in this broken world.
Let us pray: Gracious Lord, we pray for the speedy recovery of those injured in the attack on their place of worship this past Friday night. We pray for those who did it, that they might come to see the error of their ways and that they might be held accountable. Let your light shine through us, a light which opens our eyes and our hearts. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Pastor Kerry
Used by permission