March 15 – Good

When they started writing the story of creation, goodness was a big part of it. Genesis, Chapter One: for six days God created – earth and sky, land and sea, sun and moon and stars, land animals, birds of the air, sea creatures, and finally humans. All good. At each stage, God stood back and admired God’s work, and said, “That’s good.”

It’s just a shame how we have handled it, though.

Why take something good and neglect it, abuse it, break it? Why take something good and make it ugly? Would good people do a thing like that?

It’s just a mystery. I cannot reconcile the bad that is so prevalent with the good that was given. Church people sometimes like to argue about whether it’s even fair to say creation, humankind in particular, is still good. I had a man insist once that it was a mistake to tell our children that they were created good because it would mislead them. In his mind, that goodness was long ago wiped out – ever since Adam and Eve were booted out of the garden.

That seems excessively and dangerously negative to me. Even though I get weighted down by the relentless bad stuff in the world, I am hungry to see and know the good. However deeply it might be buried.

It’s still accessible. I believe.

Even this morning, as I read the news about the mass shootings in New Zealand. Two separate mosques were shot up while people prayed. Military-style weapons were used for the purpose of inflicting maximum damage. Explosive devices were also planted. It was a well-coordinated attack, they say, with at least three people suspected of working together. 

There is no question this was a hate crime. The perpetrators made that clear.

There is a Fred Rogers quote that gets shared every time we experience another colossal act of hate. He said when he was a child, whenever he saw scary things on the news his mother would say, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” 

The meaning I take from this story is that we can be confident of the existence of good. That we can be assured that evil is not the normal state of things in our world, and, in fact, we mustn’t normalize it. Evil is not what God created the world for, evil is not how God created us. We were created good, and the goodness that was put at our core cannot be erased.

And so I take heart from the words of New Zealand’s Prime Minister:

"We were not chosen for this act of violence because we condone racism, because we are enclave for extremism," Ardern said in a national address. "We were chosen for the fact that we are none of these things. It was because we represent diversity, kindness, compassion, a home for those who share our values.”

Meanwhile, there are those who are planning to show solidarity with Muslims around the world by joining them in prayer over the next few days. 

When terrible things happen, look for the good. Not for the sake of ignoring the evil, but to keep perspective. Don’t let the evil color your world so much that you can’t recall what is good.

Look for good, there is hope. And hope is life.