This morning, as I was reading the current Newscope, I read this letter from The Reverend Dr. Kent Millard. What if, every Lay Person, clergy, and congregation in the North District responded to the horrible killing in Aurora, Colorado and yesterday in College Station responded with random acts of kindness? What would the outcome be for Northeast Texas and beyond? Definitely food for thought. Chew slowly.
Peace and Grace,
Bill
The following is an open letter from Kent Millard, interim pastor of St. Andrew UMC in Highlands Ranch, Colo.
The letter was published in the St. Andrew UM eNews on July 26.
“Friends: On Tuesday night, I went over to the memorial area near the theater in Aurora where the deadly
shootings took place last Friday [July 20]. I felt the need to pray at the public memorial site for all those
who lost their lives and ask for God’s healing power to be with those still recovering from their gunshot
wounds. There are 12 white crosses with the names and pictures of those who died and mounds of flowers
and teddy bears surrounding each cross. Hundreds of people have come and stood in silence and prayed
and left messages of hope.
“While I was standing there, a woman came by with a bag full of popsicles which she was giving out to the
children and anyone who wanted one. She offered me a popsicle. I accepted her gift, thanked her and I asked
her why she was doing this. She said: ‘It is just a random act of kindness.’ It struck me that a short distance
away from where there was a horrific random act of killing, she was doing a random act of kindness.
“I was so inspired by her random act of kindness, I went to the food court in the mall across from the theater
and paid for the food for several families there as my random act of kindness. What if everyone at St. Andrew
and everyone in Denver, and Colorado and the nation responded to this random act of killing with daily random
acts of kindness? It would lift people’s spirits all over the nation and give everyone new hope. It would also fulfill
Paul’s admonition: ‘Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good’ (Romans 12:21).
“I invite all of us to try it. Just practice daily simple random acts of kindness to strangers. It will be a positive
and hopeful response to that random act of killing which has taken 12 precious lives, wounded
58 others and broken the hearts of people all over the nation.” —Kent Millard