I confess: Over the last 10 days, I did not pay much attention to the Amish school shooting. As the mother of an 8-year old girl, I find school violence stories too painful to follow.

Despite attempts to avoid this particular news, the stories of the Amish practice of forgiveness eventually captivated me. Their practice of forgiveness unfolded in four public acts over the course of a week. First, some elders visited Marie Roberts, the wife of the murderer, to offer forgiveness. Then, the families of the slain girls invited the widow to their own children’s funerals. Next, they requested that all relief monies intended for Amish families be shared with Roberts and her children. And, finally, in an astonishing act of reconciliation, more than 30 members of the Amish community attended the funeral of the killer.  Diane Butler Bass

She goes on to muse about the power of putting feet to faith, and then moves into - what if - in the political arena.

Amish of the Old Order aren’t pacifist in the traditional sense, their life is hard, some practices and beliefs are harsh, and they are human.  It is not a story book life.
Our instinct is to look for an angle - what do the Amish gain from these acts?
They don’t wish attention and publicity, outpouring of compassion that comes in the form of dollars doesn’t mean much to them.
Blessed are those who mourn… 
They chose in pain to weep with those who weep. They chose to share what they had been given. They chose to forgive, as they have been forgiven. They know forgiveness is not an option for those who claim to follow Jesus Christ. And I believe they know what a hard road forgiveness and reconciliation is, and will be.
Blessed are the peacemakers…

If media attention had not been focused on them, the Amish would have chosen these acts anyway. And while a cynical world may wonder what they get out of all this, or attempts to venerate, the choices the Amish community made stand on their own. Choices to act in love through pain are suspect in a chaotic and bitter world, but they are love in action none the less, just caught under kleig lights.
Blessed are the meek… 

They are acts of relationship that start with God’s Son.
These are spiritual choices, regardless of what happens around them, to them, with them, for or against them, regardless of what the rest of us think or attempt to analysis.
Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good. 
And that is hard, isn’t it?