NOT FUNNY IN FRAMINGHAM!

“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;” (Matthew 5:44)

Matthew 5:44 can be a tough verse for even the most devout Christians to follow. We don’t naturally want to pray for those who hurt us and do bad things to us, although the Bible DOES teach the power and effectiveness of such prayers. I think most of us are more like little “Jeffy” in “The Family Circus” cartoon. One cartoon shows Jeffy praying the Lord’s prayer in THIS manner: “and forgive us our trespasses, as we GIVE IT TO THOSE who trespass against us”! No, we don’t want to pray for them, we want to “give it” to them!

That’s my struggle about the senseless vandalism to downtown buildings I’ve witnessed in the past two weeks. Late last week, I went into the downtown post office to check my post office box and was shocked to see that a large window there had been smashed. My boss from VIP Answering Service happened to walk in at the same time. I commented to him about the damage, and he added, “That’s the SECOND time that window has been smashed this week! They repaired it, and now it’s smashed again!”

The post office has just boarded up that space, not bothering to put glass in it again. This morning, I stopped by the post office again, and ANOTHER window had been smashed!

Across the street, I walked by the Armenian Church of the Holy Translators where my good friend Fr. Krikor Sabonjian is the pastor. To my shock, a window at THEIR building had been smashed! I walked inside, and there was Krikor with a shop vac trying to clean up shards of glass which were all over the place! The worst part is, Krikor told me this is the second time it’s happened in two weeks! As with the post office, they smashed that window, the church replaced it, and they smashed it again!

After speaking to Krikor, I couldn’t help but think of the episode of The Three Stooges where they play three bizarre physicians. Througout that “short” The Three Stooges run into the office of the president of the hospital, smashing the door’s glass window as they do. A repairman keeps replacing the window, and The Three Stooges keep smashing it. Finally, when the repairman sees The Three Stooges coming, he just smashes the window for them! Now, that’s slapstick, and it’s supposed to be funny, but there’s nothing funny about the smashed windows in downtown Framingham. For those of us who care about downtown Framingham revitalization, such vandalism is sickening and disgusting! Yes, we SHOULD pray as the above verse says...let’s pray the culprit or culprits are found, brought to justice, and have to make restitution for what they’ve done, and let’s pray they learn to never perpetrate such vandalism again; let’s pray the Lord brings them to true repentance!