Posted on 08/19/2024 2:17:26 PM PDT by Morgana
Pastor Troy Garrett of Ocean View Lighthouse Church in Norfolk, Virginia, led cleanup efforts after a vandal broke more than 30 church windows last week. While the vandalism didn’t stop the church from holding Sunday services, Garrett went even further to offer forgiveness for the person at fault.
“We don’t know why and it’s not my job to figure out why,” Garrett told local news. Norfolk Pastor Offers Forgiveness for Church Vandal
Thursday morning—just three days before Sunday services—Pastor Garrett received a phone call from a church member saying that someone had broken multiple church windows.
Garrett, who has served as pastor for two years, reviewed footage taken by the security cameras on the church property. He saw a person throwing landscaping stones into the church windows, shattering each one.
The vandalism happened around midnight, early Thursday morning. A total of 31 windows were broken.
“Forgive the person who did it,” Garrett said to local news. “We don’t know why, and it’s not my job to figure out why. It’s my job to live and forgive no matter what.”
Garrett filed a police report and trusted local law enforcement for justice. But the pastor is focusing on loving well following the incident.
It was a community effort to board up the broken windows quickly and prepare for the weekend services. Church members volunteered their time, and a nearby neighbor brought in bottled water.
Services went ahead as planned on Sunday. The sermon was titled, “Who Are You For,” and the pastor focused on people’s “response to God in the midst of uncertainty and hardship. Our response is always to trust him in all things and to praise him.”
The church’s website further explained a connection between recent events and the week’s sermon topic, saying, “Earlier this week, on Aug. 15 at midnight, the church was vandalized and many of the windows were broken.”
“This service is in light of such an atrocity against the church to encourage the church and anyone listening or watching to always trust in God to defend, protect, and rescue his people,” the sermon description continued. “Our ultimate hope is in the forgiveness of our own sins and in the promise of eternal life.”
For More Than 60 Years, Ocean View Lighthouse Church Has Been Called To ‘Make Room’
“We will make room by creating spaces for people to commune with God and the family of God and become disciples of Jesus,” the church’s vision statement reads.
The church actively partners with local organizations and helps meet the needs of others. Church members “seek to feed the hungry” by participating in “food distribution efforts and community meals.”
Garrett and his church leaders look to where God will lead the small congregation in the future. The church’s focus includes small groups, growing youth, and connecting with the local military community. The church wants to be “an asset to our community and those in our sphere of influence.”
While certainly a disruption, the vandalism didn’t threaten the church members’ love for God or their neighbors. They’ll continue to “make room” for others to know and experience the love of Jesus.
more than mean
precursor to christian genocide.
Be afraid and worried
better change and make them afraid of you
Forgiveness can be given, but restitution is warranted.
I agree. Glass is not cheap and they took out 30 windows.
Being a Christian doesn’t mean one is a punching bag. Always willing to forgive, yes.This.guy is telling his congregation to turn their cheeks 30 times.
Jesus told the women caught in adultery to “sin no more”.
Jesus clearly taught that for those who make his believers stumble...being drowned while weighted down with a millstone is better for them. Doesn’t sound like forgiveness was accepted.
If Mr. window breaker doesn’t come clean and restore what damage he did....no need to forgive...
Yep. There still must be a penalty for what they’ve done. Forgive, sure, but here’s the bill/jail time/restitution.
No, lock him up — or he and others will do it again.
That’s right.
In fact, give each of the perpetrators one month in jail for every window 🪟 broken.
There is no mercy without justice. He should not preemptively pardon evil.
See to it that the perp falls a sufficient number of time on the way to jail...
The “Pat O’brien does’nt work anymore...
EXACTLY but I don’t forget, ever.
Oh, the forgiving is FAR easier than the forgetting, as it should be.
Aw, come on. Just a few whacks with a tire iron and then we forgive them? Just a couple?
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