大象传媒

Good morning. It hardly seems possible that exactly 29 years have passed since the killing of 3 mourners at a funeral in Belfast鈥檚 Milltown Cemetery. In March 1988, Michael Stone interrupted the burial of three IRA activists who had been killed by British Special Forces on Gibraltar. These were highly charged moments in the already conflicted history of Northern Ireland, but truly, we had never seen anything quite like it. Stone鈥檚 crazy attack upon the hundreds of mourners with a handgun and grenades was captured by TV cameras and replayed on the evening news, as was his arrest when he ran from the scene pursued by a large crowd, onto a busy Motorway where the police were waiting. He was tried, sentenced, and imprisoned for a minimum of 30 years by the trial judge.聽
A decade later, the Good Friday Agreement achieved much that was positive, but the consequent early release of Michael Stone having served about a third of his sentence was a difficult pill to swallow for people of good will seeking a better future. Sometimes people simply need to be punished for their crimes. But, alongside this is the astonishing hope of redemption. Even when it seems impossible to deliver, the attempt to reconcile must always be pursued. South African Bishop Desmond Tutu, sought to bring Michael Stone together with a Catholic victim of Loyalist violence on the 大象传媒2 documentary 鈥淔acing the Truth鈥�. It didn鈥檛 end well 鈥� truth there may have been, but reconciliation couldn鈥檛 be achieved. Both Stone and his victim were too damaged to progress 鈥� but the attempt was the right thing to do.聽
Prayer. Lord, for the victims of violence everywhere, we pray that the terror would end, and that the healing might begin 鈥� even when that road might be long .Amen.聽