by Rev. Jason Swan I April 7, 2025

This comes to mind when I see reactions to mass casualty events, murders, crime, and the challenges of life on this side of glory. Recently, there has been a marked increase of the clenching of fists when it comes to the sojourner, the person who struggles with their identity, and so much more.  In those situations where extreme acts of sin result in the death of an innocent or where our idea of what should be is critically challenged, some have the immediate reaction of anger that ends up with a clinched fist. Perhaps that is you. Sometimes it is me. We want the person responsible to receive swift and harsh judgement. We want the system to undergo a structural and visceral change so that egregious acts of sin never happen again. We want to shape the world, our fortunes, our fate, and the fortunes and fates of others through our will carried out with that clenched fist leading the way. 

I will not fully say that anger is wholly out of the question as a response to instances of horrific loss and violence or injustice. However, I would put forth that our most powerful response be love, love that joins hands with the broken hearted at their most vulnerable. Love that joins hands without fear, looking even into the face of death and not shying away from the opened eyed gaze of the grave. Joining hands in love with people who we seemingly have nothing in common with, other than the fact that we share this world, this life, this brokenness together in our own unique ways.

In this way, we can hope to bring about that which Dr. King talks about when he says: "Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that..." And "So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvary's hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime--the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists."

Let us be creative extremists for love that begins our work with joined hands. Let us unclench our fists of hatred, violence, and fear and move towards a shared life of harmony and peace. Let us mourn with those who mourn, cry with those who cry, and advocate for those who cannot advocate for themselves. Let us ever be mindful of our neighbors, whoever they may be, that we may reach and join hands with those who are hurting, lonely, and vulnerable. In this, we can help with grief, fear, and reconciliation. In this we may head off future tragedy and discord by showing another path, a path that does not begin and end with a clinched fist, but one that is filled with the hope that Hugo and Dr. King expressed with their appeals to love. Not a fleeting love, a fleeting expression, rather one that flows out of the Place of the Skull and fills the whole world in a tide of hope, even in the darkest of horrors. 

Finally, as we consider the new commandment of Christ on Maundy Thursday to love one another just as He has loved us, I commend these words of Professor Tolkien to you, as a place to start in this life as a creative extremist who lives this life with joined hands, rather than a clenched fist: "I have found that it is the small everyday deed of ordinary folks that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love."