The FreeMarket fanatics are expecting an Economic Apocalypse.
The Religious fanatics are expecting an Armaggedan Apocalypse.
The Islamist fanatics are expecting a Dabiq Apocalypse.
The Shiite Twelver fanatics are expecting a Twelfth Imam Apocalypse.
The Entertainment fanatics are expecting another Apocalypse blockbuster.
The Leftist fanatics are expecting a RightWing Apocalypse.
The Rightist fanatics are expecting a LeftWing Apocalypse.
The Racist fanatics are expecting a Race War Apocalypse.
For some groups of people, an apocalyptic tragedy has already begun, having changed their lives forever, in ways that we, the clueless online onlookers, can never comprehend.
For members of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, life as they knew it has been torn asunder, as if a raging lion had attacked a grazing lamb.
Two days ago I heard people on a radio program arguing about whether the mass murder committed by a lone racist gunman in Charleston was a "hate crime" or a "crime against Christians."
What we call it is really meaningless.
The truth is; it's both--and. . . a serious multiple homicide perpetrated by a hateful, anti-Christian man who is worth of only thing, the death penalty.
This multiple murder did take place in a Christian church; Nine Christians were cruelly murdered.
In my Church this Sunday morning, our pastor lead us in a prayer for the families of these nine martyrs, who are now in the presence of Jesus Christ, who, like them, was murdered in his own innocence.
Our pastor reminded us of Paul's counsel to the Christians of 1st-century Rome, who were later persecuted in the same murderous way as our brothers and sisters of Emanuel AME. Paul exhorted the believers in Rome to "weep with those weep."
And so, while most of us did not weep for these deceased saints, we did pray for their families, and for their gathered believers, which is to say their church. We stand in solidarity with them, in what we call the Body of Christ.
In such a time as this, we are reminded of the words Jesus spoke:
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted."
In such a time as this, the collective prayers of the church will summon the Holy Spirit to comfort the families and saints of Emanuel AME Church.
And although murderous acts such as this may come, they will not defeat the purposes of God among his people.
Nor will any coming Apocalypse, imagined or otherwise, extinguish the love of Jesus that draws his people together in times of tribulation.
Glass half-Full
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