Reflections on the Past Week in Boston

It’s been a rough week in Greater Boston.  Last Monday morning, Jonathan, the girls and I did one of my favorite Boston activities - cheering on the marathoners near the half-way point in Wellesley.  Something about the Boston marathon is so joyful and life-affirming - a triumph of the human spirit.  So the news that this beautiful event  - a moment so many had worked so hard for - had been forever marred by an act of violence was heartbreaking.  Isn’t that just what sin does?  It takes things meant to be beautiful and soils them; darkens them.  A friend of ours and her three little boys (whom we adore) were at the finish line directly across from the first explosion.  Thankfully, they were not physically hurt, but a bit of their innocence is gone. Sin has touched them.

As terrible as the bombing was, I have found my thoughts to be more with the accused.  Both of the Tsarnaev brothers had been students in Boston on campuses where Cru is active - the younger brother is actually a current student.  There is still conflicting info about their background, but it is clear that both brothers moved a lot, particularly the older brother.  Moving often during his formative years, not only from place to place, but from country to country.  Each with its own culture, language, norms.  

Did you move as a child?  I did, in third grade.  It was so scary and disruptive. For a long time, I felt alienated, out of place, and far from home. Imagine that feeling, but multiplied by multiple moves to different countries.  It is easy for me to imagine how alienated and adrift the older Tsarnaev brother might have felt - how desperate to belong, to fit in. How vulnerable to the influence of evil.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s potential brokenness and vulnerability by no means excuses his choices and actions (assuming that he was, in fact, guilty of the bombings).  No amount of hurt or pain makes setting off a bomb in a public place anything less than evil.  There are plenty of hurting people who choose not to harm others as an answer to their own suffering.

The events of this week and the unfolding story of the alleged perpetrators reminds me of the importance of the work Cru does on campus.  What if one or both of these brothers had been introduced to Christ? What if they had been welcomed into true Christian community?  How many students are there in Boston feeling completely isolated and outcast?  Feeling hated and unwanted in the country in which they’re living?  I am reminded that our mission is urgent and important.  People that matter to God are lost and broken.  

At the end of the day, our enemies are not the Tsarnaev brothers, Muslim extremists, Chechen terrorists... our enemy is Satan:  

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”  Ephesians 6:12  

And our hope is not ultimately in the strength of the people of Boston or the power of the United States government.  Our hope lies in the one who is able to heal hearts and transform lives.

Pray for the students of Boston.  Pray that many will turn to God in the midst of their fear, anxiety, and anger.  Pray that they will meet our Prince of Peace.