Reflection

After Pastor John Perkins led a peaceful protest for black rights in Mendenhall, Mississippi, he was beaten with baseball bats and nightsticks for four hours. As he lay in his hospital bed, he allowed himself to feel all the hate he had towards his attackers. As he did so, an image of Christ on the cross came to him. Perkins later reported, “It blotted out everything else in my mind.” At that moment, he found the key to his life vocation: Christ’s prayer, “Father, forgive these people, for they know not what they do.”

While few of us have lain in hospital beds because of the sin of others, we are all victims of sin. When we reflect on the ways that we’ve been hurt, we can either poison our hearts with the toxins of resentment, bitterness, and hatred, or we can imitate Jesus by extending mercy and offering forgiveness. Forgiveness stops the cycle of violence. When we extend mercy, we become children of God and participate with God in healing the world.

While few of us have used baseball bats or nightstick on our neighbors, all of us have caused others pain. When we experience the mercy of God and others by asking for forgiveness, we can better understand the heart of God towards us as sinners.

Action (Lament)

The United States has beaten up our southern neighbors for decades. The U.S. has overthrown democratically elected governments (Jacobo Árbenz in Guatemala, Salvador Allende in Chile, to name just two of many examples). The U.S. has funded repressive militaries that have killed tens of thousands (such as the death squads in El Salvador). Our illegal drug habits continue to funnel billions of dollars to drug cartels and gangs that destabilize and corrupt Latin American governments. Our carbon emissions cause increasingly chaotic weather that deprives farm laborers of jobs. In a sad irony, many people flee north, seeking refuge in the land of those who caused the problems that have ravaged their lives.

Watch this 3-minute video about a nineteen-year-old who had to flee El Salvador. Imagine yourself in his place. What emotions do you feel? Write out a two- or three-sentence lament for this young man in your journal and then bring this lament into the loving presence of God through prayer.