infamous grace

I read in an article today that Lee Harvey Oswald's coffin sold for $87 000. He was quite clearly known for his infamy.    

 A mailman, trying to "cheer up" a lady on his route, delivered mail in the nude this week. I'm sure that neighbourhood will recall this infamous incident for some time.

 Ma Barker.Jesse James.Belle Gunness.Al Capone.Hitler.Mussolini.Timothy McVeigh.Bin Laden.Karla Homolka.Ted Bundy.Saddam Hussein.

I could name dozens, hundreds, maybe thousands of names of those who were known for their infamy. Known only for negative acts - whether or not they also committed good - the bad overshadowed everything else. I'm sure we could argue, back and forth, for hours or even days, whether or not given a second chance any of these people would redeem themselves, but the reality is, what they are known for is their infamy.

So what is it to be known for our infamy? For our worst acts? To be the worst memory of ourselves.  Could you imagine if someone lined up all of your worst acts and wrote them out as your obituary in the end? What a way to be recalled. What a lasting imprint you'd have on the world.  How despairing...not just for you, but for your family, and anyone who came across your story.

And so, we shouldn't. We shouldn't remember each other or view each other with a negative filter. We should seek to view people through the eyes of Christ.  I'm not saying it's easy or even completely possible in our fallen, messed up world, but I do believe it is something we should strive towards.  If we could just turn our desire and enjoyment of the infamous dealings of others to infamous grace towards them, then- whoa, what a story that would be.

There are few examples of such incredible and supernatural grace that come to mind and many of them are in stories I have read at www.potsc.com but one I know.  One that comes to mind is of an extraordinary heaping of God's grace so immense I can barely imagine it.

On October 2, 2006, a man named Charles Carl Roberts IV entered an Old Order Amish school house, and shot ten young girls, killing five of them before ending his own life.  The community, instead of pitying themselves and vilifying Roberts, the outside world, or whatever other millions of things they could have picked on, did something so incredible, so unexpected, that it shocked people right across the U.S. and Canada.

The Amish community forgave this man.

Though he was dead, his family went on living and the community showed them love, kindness, grace, and forgiveness.  Instead of vilifying this man, they loved his family. They even set up a fund to help the family - the wife and children - of the shooter.  No vengeful plots. No hateful language. Only language of forgiveness, hope, and grace.  That's a way to be remembered - to be a people of love, kindness, grace, and forgiveness.
That's infamous grace.