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StoryCorps September 30, 20164:38 AM ET Heard on\\xa0Morning Edition By\\xa0NPR Staff
Ten years ago, a gunman barricaded himself inside a one-room Amish schoolhouse near Lancaster, Pa. Then he opened fire. Charles "Charlie" Roberts killed five children and injured five others before killing himself.
The Amish community responded in a way that many found surprising: They forgave the shooter. And, in the years since, they have grown close to his family.
Charlie\\u2019s mother turned on the radio that morning to hear" the newscaster say that there had been a shooting at the local Amish schoolhouse," "By that time she was at her son\'s home, and she saw her husband and the state trooper standing right in front of her as she I pulled in, "She looked at her husband and said, \'It was Charlie.\' He said, \'I will never face my Amish neighbors again.\'
That week, the Roberts had a private funeral for their son, but as they went to the gravesite, they saw as many over 40 Amish started coming out from around the side of the graveyard, surrounding them like a crescent.
"Love just shown from them," Terri said. "I do recall the fathers saying, \'I believe that I have forgiven,\' but there are some days that she questions that."
Terri found it especially hard to accept that forgiveness when she thinks of one of the survivors, Rosanna. She was the most injured of the survivors and had injuries to her head. She was now 15, still tube-fed and in a wheelchair and continue to have seizures. They were worse when it got to be closer to the anniversary date.
Terri asked if it would be possible for her to help with Rosanna once a week and she began reading to her, bathing her and drying her hair"
Terri had heard one of the fathers say, \'None of us would have ever chosen this. But the relationships that we have built through it, you can\'t put a price on that.\' "
"Their choice to allow life to move forward through forgiveness was a healing balm for all of them.," she said. "And I think it\'s a message the world needs."
How many of us ask the question could we have forgiven Charlie and his parents? The Amish had forgiven Charlie and his family to the point of inviting his parents into their lives. I don\\u2019t believe they could have done it without the help of the Holy Spirit. Not that they were perfect, but they were wearing their generosity of forgiveness and love as they knew God in Jesus Christ had forgiven them out of love.
This is what we are called to do, to live a life of generosity in love and forgiveness, with the help of the Holy Spirit.
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(2)\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0 There is another kind of broken community which is more difficult for us\\u2014the one we did not anticipate or choose. We have all experienced the unexpected death of people we love who die before they have fully lived.\\xa0 We grieve over our loss for a long time.\\xa0 This community broken by tragic death is difficult for us to understand.\\xa0 We have all been touched directly or indirectly by such tragedies.\\xa0
(3)\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0 Many of us also know the pain and anguish and despair which comes when the community of the family is broken\\u2014by unfaithfulness, betrayal, separation, or divorce.
(4)\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0 In our own congregation we know that struggles, conflicts, hurt feelings and disagreements sometimes arise.\\xa0
(5)\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0 We face a time in the life of our church where many congregations, especially smaller ones, are closing or struggling to keep their ministry going.
\\xa0
For the evangelist Luke, the author of Acts, it is a broken, imperfect community that receives the Commission \\u201cYou will be my witnesses.\\u201d.\\xa0 I find this to be good news. I am often deeply aware of my own faults and weaknesses.\\xa0 As we are in touch with our own brokenness and the brokenness of the communities of which we are a part, then we\\u2019re ready to hear the words of the risen Christ.
\\xa0
Without this awareness of the disciples\\u2019 broken community, we could easily mistake Jesus\\u2019 word as a triumphalistic church growth slogan. Form the mission task forces! Unfurl the banners! \\u201cYou will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth.\\u201d \\u201cLike a mighty army, moves the church of God!\\u201d But the reader now knows better. We are painfully aware that the church, embodied in these disciples, possesses no resources to mobilize and has no troop strength to send into the fray.\\xa0 By itself, the church has nothing of what it takes to perform Christ\\u2019s mission.\\xa0
It is to a broken community of disciples, to the group that has shrunk from twelve to eleven, that Jesus says, \\u201cYou will be my witnesses.\\u201d Where will they get the strength for this?\\xa0 They have nothing!\\xa0 Jesus has already told them.\\xa0 \\u201cYou will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.\\u201d\\xa0 In this promise, the church, having nothing, is given everything.\\xa0 The call to be Jesus\\u2019 witnesses isn\\u2019t given to great people, but to ordinary people, broken people, sometimes doubting people\\u2014people who are recipients of Gods\\u2019 grace in Jesus Christ, people who are loved by God, people who are empowered by the Holy Spirit.\\xa0
\\xa0
Don\\u2019t be afraid. Jesus is alive. Go. Those of are the words of the first Easter sermon from the angels at the empty tomb. \\xa0Go into all the world with the Good News of the resurrection.\\xa0 You shall be my witnesses. I am with you always.\\xa0
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