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Editor’s note: United Methodist
Communications, the global communications agency of The United
Methodist Church, is publicizing a message of caring and hope in
Boston area media. The denomination also is asking people around the
globe to leave prayers for those affected by the attacks in Boston on
their Facebook page at facebook.com/unitedmethodistchurch.
A UMNS Report
By Heather Hahn*
6:00 P.M. ET April 16, 2013 | NASHVILLE, Tenn.
Evil struck Monday, but by Tuesday it was clear evil did not have the last word.
United Methodists in Boston and around the globe testified to the
ways they saw God in action after two explosions shattered the peace of
the Boston Marathon, claiming at least three lives and leaving more
than 170 injured.
“In our world, evil is alive and well,” said the Rev. Jim Kinder.
“The reality is that that one act of evil … began an onslaught of just
the hands and feet of people doing the work of God, right here loving
people and caring for people.”
The pastor at Christ United Methodist Church in Mobile, Ala.,
completed the Boston Marathon about an hour before the bombs
detonated. It was his first time at the event, which drew participants
from 96 countries.
“As soon as I got out of the shower, my phone was lit up with people
texting and calling me,” he said. “In fact, my senior pastor, (the
Rev.) Jeff Spiller, was the first person to text me and asked if I was
all right.”
He said he could see God at work in the faith community reaching out
to check that he was safe. He also witnessed God among the people of
Boston.
After the attack, he said, people at the race could not get back to
their checked bags, so locals downtown helped people find cabs and even
offered strangers places to stay.
“The people of Boston have been incredible,” he said. “You walk
around in your race jacket, and everybody is really going out of their
way.”
United Methodist response
Boston Area Bishop Sudarshana Devadhar, who leads the New England Annual (regional) Conference, said in a letter to the conference
that the “outpouring of love and support from friends and colleagues
in our United Methodist connection has been overwhelming and
wonderful.”
Even before the bombings, United Methodists around the Boston area were cheering and volunteering along the marathon route.
Union United Methodist Church — about a 10-minute walk from the
finish line — opened its sanctuary Monday afternoon to those needing
warmth, comfort and prayer, said the church’s lead pastor, the Rev. Jay
Williams.
Bishop Sudarshana Devadhar addresses the 2008 United Methodist General
Conference in Fort Worth, Texas. Devadhar said in a letter to the New
England Annual (regional) Conference following the bombing at the Boston
Marathon that the outpouring of love and support from friends and
colleagues in our United Methodist connection has been overwhelming and
wonderful.
UMNS file photos by Mike DuBose.
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“Although most of the runners/spectators had left the area, we did
receive a handful of folk,” he said. “We are in process of coordinating
our long-term response now.”
Janjay Innis, a student at United Methodist Boston University School
of Theology and ministry associate at Union, said the students at the
seminary wore running shoes to class on Tuesday as a sign of solidarity
with the marathoners. The students also plan to hold a prayer vigil
Tuesday night.
Innis plans to join thousands of students from the Boston area
universities who will run five miles on Friday to honor those who
because of the attacks could not complete the race.
Devadhar noted that on Tuesday night and in the coming days, United
Methodist churches around Massachusetts will — like Union — be opening
their sanctuaries and offering prayer services.
The bishop told United Methodist News Service that one of the best
things people can do to help right now is: “pray, pray, pray.”
He urged United Methodists to take comfort in the words of Isaiah 58:9: “Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.”
Forgiveness and fear
But Devadhar and others acknowledged that people still have
questions about how such a tragedy could occur and how people can
forgive those responsible.
Germany Area Bishop Rosemarie Wenner, the president of the United Methodist Council of Bishops, issued a statement
calling for prayer for God’s presence “with the victims, their
families, and those who seek to heal the wounded and bring order to
chaos.” She also called for prayers for the perpetrators.
“Even though we are aghast because of this brutal act of violence,
as followers of the crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ, we do not
satisfy our desire for revenge,” she said.
It is natural for people to feel fear after these acts of violence,
said the Rev. Rebekah Miles, a United Methodist elder and professor of
ethics and practical theology at Southern Methodist University’s
Perkins School of Theology in Dallas.
“But sometimes it’s a fear that is exaggerated,” she said. Miles
knows from experience. When she was 9, she and her family witnessed a
terrorist attack during a 1970 trip to the Old City of Jerusalem. Her
family was about a block away from the bombing. “I think love is always
the response to fear.”
Miles said she sees the presence of God’s love in the people who ran
to help immediately after the explosions. It’s worth remembering, she
said, that no matter how many people were involved in planning the
attack, far more rushed in to provide aid.
Kinder said he also saw God in the sense of community that’s followed the tragedy.
“When disaster happens, we just hang up our labels and we come
together,” Kinder said. “I think that is the work of God in us. It
doesn’t matter if you are white, black … Jewish, Christian. That’s the
Spirit of God that he created in us.”
*Hahn is a multimedia news reporter for United Methodist News Service.
News media contact: Heather Hahn, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.