Precious life

            As I had mentioned in last week’s blog, Jami and I were headed out to Omaha, Nebraska, after worship on Sunday, July 28, to welcome a new life into the world. Hudson, (Frank Winter V) would arrive late that night, our first grandchild. Thanks be to God that mother, child, and father are doing just fine! We look forward to Hudson’s baptism on that first weekend in September.

            The precious nature of this newborn life came into sharper contrast with this past week’s mass shootings in El Paso, TX, and Dayton, OH. I cannot imagine what would possess someone to think that the taking of one life (let alone, many) would be justified. It’s mind-boggling and infuriating. The finger-pointing that has taken place in the meanwhile only adds to the frustration. 

            The coarsening of our society can only find its healing in the message of Jesus Christ. The Word of our Lord calls upon us to care for one another, to bear one another’s burdens, and to restore the erring with gentleness. As St. Paul addresses the Corinthians – and what a miserable lot they could be! – he entreats them by the meekness and gentleness of Christ (2 Cor. 10:1).

            God guard us and keep us. And God guide us to be steadfast against wrongdoing (as our Lord most certainly was), always with the goal of reconciliation. For the lives all around us are precious in the sight of God; so precious that Christ Jesus would be willing to suffer and die for their redemption, and ours.