I went on the junior class retreat yesterday to the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial and Museum. I have been to the memorial several times, but this was my first trip through the museum. The memorial is always special, and it was exceptionally beautiful in the falling snow.
The museum on the other hand adds several dimensions to the whole experience that the memorial can’t. The images of pre and post explosion, the sounds, the interviews with survivors and rescuers, and the portraits of all those lost.
I was overwhelmed by the enormity of the loss, the ripples of pain and sorrow that spread through people and time caused by this one violent act. I wanted to curl up in a corner and cry a river of tears. How could God still love us after all the evil we do to each other? Not just the acts of violence, but the everyday cruelties and insenstivities we lay upon each other. How we marginalize and push aside others through indifference or through outright ugliness and hatred.
Oh Lord! Have mercy on us. We are sinners. We are rebels. Please call us all home, lead the way. Please help us to move our leaden feet, one painful step at a time in Your direction. Through our brokenness, reach through and transform our hearts. Please Father, have mercy on us.
Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.