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Stories of Hope and Inspiration After Violence Response from a SurvivorWhat might a local congregation offer to a man in Pete’s situation? I commend Pete for the courage it must have taken to acknowledge the impact of his thinking and behavior on both his life and the lives of his family members. I cannot imagine the devastation of having the man to whom I had committed myself for life place a gun to my head and dry fire. At the same time I can identify with Pete, because if we are honest we know that at the core of our soul we all have sin and shame. It is undemanding simply to be aghast at Pete’s actions, thinking smugly that we’d never do that. But the truth is that God loves Pete as much as he loves each of us and doesn’t view Pete’s sin any differently from our own sin. If the church is truly functioning as the body of Christ, it’s not enough for us only to meet Pete’s standard–to be “treated like a human being.” The body of Christ has to go far beyond that which might be imagined in offering a response that parallels that of the father to the prodigal son: “Bring the best robe… Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.Bring the fattened calf and kill it…Have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found.” Isn’t that how we’d like to be treated if our deepest shame was made public to our church family? Our sin required Jesus to die a horrific death so that we could all be free. To be the body of Christ we must humbly examine our own sin, until we no longer perceive ourselves as any “better” than Pete. Once that is done we can walk compassionately beside him as a brother in Christ and give him the one-to-one support and encouragement he needs. Joyce Holt |
