Holy Week--Eaglets and Bombs

This week I have been somewhat captivated by the eaglecam at the National Arboretum in DC. I have caught glimpses of the eaglets. There is something soothing about watching the branch on which the nest sits move in the breeze. When I saw a car move on the road far below it almost seemed unreal.

There is a disclaimer just below the video that reminds us we are watching a wild eagle nest, and that many things can happen, “like sibling rivalry, predators, and natural disaster, some of which might be disturbing to see.” Just reading that builds some anxiety whenever I check back in. Will both eaglets still be there? Will both parents survive to help nurture their offspring?

Into this viewing of new life in nature comes a truly disturbing event. Brussels was rocked by terrorist attacks on Tuesday--three days earlier, it was Istanbul--senseless violence against people going about their daily lives. “Things can happen, some of which might be disturbing to see.” Is it a surprise why so many people are on edge almost all the time?

Tuesday, in Brussels just before the first bomb detonated, Susie Olmstead and Mike Wang’s daughter Laura Billiet, with her brother-in-law, was arriving at the airport to drop off her friend, also named Laura (Harper), for her flight back to the States. They had just stepped out of the car when the explosion hit. They got back in the car when another explosion went off closer to them. The two Lauras and the brother-in-law left the car and ran to the police station across the street. There, as injured people began pouring in, Billiet, a physician did triage with the little available to her—something to cut clothing to assess wounds, and paper towels to staunch the bleeding. Harper took charge of two young sisters whose parents had been rushed to the hospital from the airport. Harper quoted Mr. Rogers to them: look around to see the people who were helping in a bad situation. While Billiet helped treat forty wounded people, Harper also assisted in translating for a mother who spoke Spanish. As the mother was about to be taken off on a stretcher, Harper stopped them to make sure that her small son was kept with his mother.

“Things might happen, some of which might be disturbing to see.” Yes, but then look around to see the people who are helping, even as they are thrown into a desperate situation for which they are not prepared.

Seeing a man hanging on a cross until he dies, but, even as he is in agony, he uses his precious breath to forgive those who think they know what they are doing as they follow orders. He knows better—even as they participate in evil, they are ignorant.  That forgiveness was not lightly given. It took every ounce of his being to offer it to people who were not even aware they needed it.

Horrible, disturbing things happen, and yet even in the midst of it, the two women prayed when they made it inside the station. As soon as wounded people began arriving, their prayers became actions that touched the lives of those who were in a desperate situation. Their prayers may have been inarticulate cries, but their very lives articulated the healing, forgiving breath of the man who hung on the cross.

John 13:34-35

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”