Saturday, October 27th, a man walked into the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh—my beloved hometown—and shot and killed 11 people and wounded six out of pure hatred. Add this to a long list of hate crimes and mass shootings across the country. It painful to see this in any city, but this is “my city”. It will be politicized and, in a couple of weeks, something will take its place in the news. Eleven will still be dead and another city will remain shaken. Pittsburghers are a strong breed and the city will rally in support of the families and the Jewish community, but across the nation we need to rally to end the divisiveness and hatred.
I am seeing the hashtag “#lovethyneighbor (no exceptions)” appearing across social media. Ordinarily, I am not a hashtag kinda guy, but this one sticks. I don’t know the motives behind the shootings other than some evil led a man to want to “kill Jews”. My heart breaks.
This is America—the land of freedom (religious and otherwise). We cannot tolerate any actions that deprive our neighbors of their freedom to express their faith and to live peacefully within the law of the land.
When Christ admonished his disciples to “love your neighbor” (the second great commandment, Mark 12:31), I don’t believe he saw a need to include “no exceptions”. This is implied. If any of us who profess to be Christian—that is, followers of Christ—we cannot pick and choose who we will call our “neighbor”. Our neighbor is anyone with whom we share this planet called “Earth”. It excludes no race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or political party. We do not have the luxury to pass the Samaritan lying beaten in the ditch. We are commanded to show mercy and to love even our enemy. Somehow, we seem to have forgotten these teaching—or maybe we choose to ignore them?
I pray that the shooting in Pittsburgh is the last such heinous act. I am not naïve. I am hopeful. I want to see the vitriol and dissension end. It is beyond political. It is a cancer of the heart. It is a Spiritual void. The cure can only come from each of us doing our collective part to “#lovethyneighbor (no exceptions)”.
Carpe momento!