Scripture: Luke 6:36-37
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven…”
Thought for the Day: I’m taking a slight break from our discussion on Galatians to toss my own thoughts into the gorilla enclosure. As most of you know, a child fell into a gorilla enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo last week. The gorilla, named Harambe, drug the child around. After nearly 10 minutes, zoo official shot and killed Harambe. If you’ve been watching the story at all, you also know the internet has exploded with opinions on this subject. The mother of the child has been blamed and brutalized by people. The zoo has all kinds of folks complaining about their decision to kill the gorilla. All this finger pointing, judging, accusing and condemning leaves me a bit disappointed. I don’t know exactly what occurred with the mother, but before I became a parent, I made a few judgmental statements about parents that I would take back today. How many of us as parents have watched our children miss a disastrous happening because of luck or grace or something. And the zoo employees – don’t think for a minute that the decision to kill the gorilla was easy. The people who work at the zoo probably view those animals like they view their own children. It had to have been extraordinarily tough and painful to do what they did. And you put all of that in a very short period of time, and though procedures were in place (and they appear to have been followed), you still don’t know what it is like to be in that moment until you are the one who has to make the decision…and I must believe that whoever made the decision did so to the best of his/her ability in that moment. Even though I knew the child was safe by the time I heard about the events, I still felt a wave of terror for the child’s mother and others who stood by helplessly. As an animal lover, I grieve the death of a magnificent part of God’s creation. Yet as I think about this event, I realize that much of the anger that is being expressed by people is really grief and fear seeking to make sense of what is a tragedy. I’m certain policies and procedures are being reviewed in every zoo across the country, and something good might come of what has happened. But in the end, let us never pretend that we would have made a different decision or that our superior parenting skills would have never allowed such a thing to occur. Let’s not judge, because it almost always comes back with the one who judged being judged.
Prayer: As you do not judge me, O Lord, I try not to judge others. Help me to be gracious as you are gracious. Amen.
THIS SATURDAY
8am – 1pm
VBS
June 14-17
