It is one year since the massacre of the church goers at Mother Bethel AME Church in Charleston, S.C. The current pastor was interviewed on the news and the commentator was amazed that so many of the family and friends of the victims were ready to extend forgiveness to the gunman. “What would you say to the shooter if you were to meet him,” the newsman asked of the new pastor. She answered,”I would tell him that God love him, that he is a child of God, that mercy is his for the asking.” The pastor had absorbed the message of Jesus that we are all in need of God’s mercy and that the worst thing we do does not define us. Forgiveness does not excuse the crime or belittle the harm. It reminds of God’s compassionate love for everyone no matter what.
JUNE162016
By Church Staff
