CREEDE HINSHAW: Responding to violence with love

Thank you, Mrs. Mertz, for listening to your pastor’s sermon. I wish I knew you so I could give you, your pastor and your church more credit.

What I know about Mrs. Mertz is contained in the 14th and 15th paragraphs of a report in the Wall Street Journal a couple of weeks ago headlined “Minnesota City Grapples with Stabbings at Mall.”

In the smallish city of St. Cloud, Minn., a deranged knife wielding immigrant attacked nine shoppers before he was killed by an off-duty policeman. The community, understandably, tried to come to terms with the enormity of the attack.

That’s where Mrs. Mertz comes in. She was found drinking coffee in St. Cloud the day after the attack and was questioned by a reporter. Here’s what she had to say:

“We were just at church and were impressed that our pastor said we should respond to this with more love. We have a lot of Somali people in St. Cloud and this could lead to more tension. But we shouldn’t retaliate or anything but be more loving.”

What an awesome response for many reasons:

1. Mrs. Mertz goes to church;

2. She listens to the sermon;

3. She has a pastor who addresses traumatic current events;

4. She remembers and quotes the sermon the following day.

I do not know what church Mrs. Mertz attends. I don’t know her pastor or what part of the Bible he quoted. But he got it right and she got it right.

I have been reading – with a group of friends – through the Paul’s letter to the Romans. The first 11 chapters, though inspiring, are very difficult reading. They are not for the fainthearted.

But at Romans 12 Paul turns a corner. Suddenly, he gets practical and things are easier to understand. They are difficult to put into practice, but at least they are understandable. Perhaps the Minnesota pastor quoted these selected verses from Romans 12:

“Rejoice in hope; be patient in suffering … extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse them … Do not repay anyone evil for evil … never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the vengeance of God … if your enemies are hungry feed them … Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

In the heat of this presidential election year, every tragedy becomes fodder for electoral politics. In the face of very real unrest, one candidate recklessly and irresponsibly touts building an insurmountable wall, glibly tosses out hollow phrases such as “law and order” and “stop and frisk,” and questions the loyalty of American citizens who are the children or grandchildren of immigrants. These are not the ethic of the Hebrew prophets, Jesus or the church. In fact they run counter to everything that Jesus or Paul lived and taught.

Before getting so lathered up for revenge, tough talk and a candidate’s impossible promises, maybe we should sit down with a cup of coffee and read Romans 12. If that’s not the passage cited by the Minnesota pastor, there are plenty others he could have used, because Paul’s teaching in Romans 12 runs straight through the Bible.

Email columnist Creede Hinshaw, a retired Methodist minister, at [email protected].