FROM THE PULPIT: IF I ONLY HAD A BULLDOZER

I read a story on the Associated Press last Tuesday about a man in West Virginia who was ordered by a judge to sell his house and split the proceeds with his estranged wife. The man hated the idea of sharing the house so much that he borrowed a bulldozer and drove it through the two-story home leaving nothing but a pile of rubble.

I found myself wondering as I read that story how the man on the bulldozer felt the next morning. Did he still feel like destroying his house was worth it when his revenge was all he had left to keep him warm?

I have been reflecting a lot about forgiveness during this Lenten season. It is amazing to me how much I (and all of us I assume) rely upon the grace of God to cover all of my own shortcomings but cannot imagine that God is also willing to cover you with the same gift of grace.

The Gospel is so demanding of us. In the sermon on the mount (Matthew 5:43) Jesus even suggests that we are to love our enemies and "pray for those who persecute (us)..."

Surely that must be a misprint! The forgiveness that the cross of Lent represents invites us to ask what would it take for us to be just as sacrificial in our love for those who would have our hide as Jesus is.

How can we walk in step with a God who would give his only begotten son when we are busy "bringing down the house" on one another?

This is a challenging question but if it were beyond us I don't think God would ask us to love like God does.

The challenge, I believe, is to trust that love is indeed a power stronger than hate. Hate begets more hate.

Could it be that love also begets more love? If we can believe that, then just maybe we will be able to give up our pervasive human compulsion to get even with everyone whom we think has wronged us.

It seems to me that this is a very important message for an age that is full of road rage and which is also compiling long lists of hate crimes.

I recently read an FBI report which suggested an increase in hate crimes and detailed statistics which said 7,947 hate crime incidents were reported by more than 9,500 law enforcement agencies in 45 states.

Sixty-one percent of the incidents were motivated by racial bias; 16 percent by religious bias; 13 percent by sexual orientation bias; and 10 percent by ethnicity/national origin bias. Most of the crimes were hate directed at persons but some of them were also vandalism and destruction of property.

It is clear to me that the world needs the forgiving and sacrificial love of Jesus now more than ever. At the very least we might be saved by the realization that we cannot bulldoze the house without bringing down the roof on ourselves!