The testimony of Forgiveness

Im not sure there has been a better testimony to Jesus on such a large scale in the past few years than that of the Amish families response to the killings of their daughters a few weeks ago. As one friend remarked as we discussed it at Church that sunday "They have set themselves free...." to what, you might ask, as Josh Grogan writes aptly from "Descending the dark staircase into bitterness" Read his well thought out article on the forgiveness of the Amish in the Philidephia Inquirer here The simple people know what many of us still have not figured out, that the ever-escalating violence of vengeance has no end, and that the acid of revenge etches the human heart with deep and permanent scars. Imagine if the ethic of unilateral forgiveness could envelope the Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq, the Catholics and Protestants in Ireland, the Jews and Palestinians in Israel. Imagine if it could permeate the streets of America, where rival gangs kill over colors and young men settle scores over respect with 9mm Glocks. The Amish have found the road to a higher place. The rest of us could do worse than to be a little more like them.