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Response to the Shootings
in El Paso, TX and Dayton, OH

Read in worship on Sunday, August 4, 2019

Folks, be faithful. Seek guidance from the Holy Spirit and from God’s Holy Word. God’s human family is not designed nor created for such violence or hateful rhetoric to be heaped upon one another. This is simply not in God’s grand plan for us. So, as we rebuke racism, violence and terror, may we also rebuke any rhetoric or teaching that will draw those who are of weak mind or spirit into these baseless acts against God’s will for God’s people. Humanity is created for the purpose of love. Period.

I wrote and shared those thoughts with you less than a year ago following the mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA - 11 killed, 7 injured.

Just a few months before that shooting, I spoke to you in this same manner about the 17 killed, 17 injured at the Stoneman Douglas School shooting in Parkland, FL.

Three years ago, after the mass shooting in the gay night club in Orlando - 49 dead, 56 wounded, we prayed the following at a vigil held here in St. Paul’s: We light this candle in remembrance of the victims of gun violence, both those who have been injured and those who have been killed, in our nation, in our own city of Chattanooga and especially for those killed in Orlando, Florida this past weekend. We hold their memories dear. We treasure those lives permanently altered through injury or those taken in senseless acts of violence, and we pray that they might find rest and peace. May their lives continue to make a difference in our world. Together we pray.

In June of 2015, just barely over my first month here at St. Paul’s, I also spoke with you about the shooting at Mother Emmanuel Church in Charleston, SC - 9 killed by a self-avowed Racist.

And we see it happen again in El Paso - 20 dead, 26 injured. And I woke up this morning having written this statement for us last night, and I hear the news while driving in to church of 9 killed and at least 16 injured after a mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio.

Many of these acts of violence, including a woman being driven over by a car while peacefully marching in Charlottesville, VA in 2017 have been motivated by white nationalism, racism and deep seated fear of people of color, immigrants and those with an orientation other than straight white male.

How long...how long before good and decent people of all stripes, colors, and political affiliations will say enough is enough.

To be honest, I believe our world is random enough that some people will live out acts of violence no matter what others like you and I do to prevent it. Humanity has fracture to it that flies in the face of God’s grand plan of love.

But with that said, we must also acknowledge that there are contributing factors which cause spikes in the sort of hate driven violence that happened in a Walmart near our southern border yesterday. Racist rhetoric by individuals at all levels in this country, a refusal to enact even the most common sense legislation around weapons, and the stoking of fear of those different from myself all contribute to a deep vein of sin and brokenness in our own country and in places around the world.

As your pastor, who loves you dearly, I am imploring you to tune out messages which lead you into pathways of fear, down the hot and dusty roads of hatred of others simply for who they are, and a self-righteousness which denies the basic humanity of someone with whom we may disagree. These are not the ways of Christ. Fear is the tool of evil which builds the walls of hatred and violence. Hope, grace, and love are the tools of goodness which build up the Kingdom of God - Real LOVE that is hard to live - not pie in the sky love - but love that forces me to look at myself in the mirror and name my own sins of racism and bias so that I can seek to love others in the way God loves me is not some sort of pejorative snowflake love, but rather is hard, difficult, and yet necessary work. This, this is the path of Jesus - through the Cross, death and into new life. As a follower we are called to make that journey so that we can love without limits.

Rebuke any racist rhetoric you hear, no matter who it comes from. Rebuke it, not because I implore you, but because the Lord who you follow demands that of you. And seek a life of grace. Do this, and do it consciously with every decision you make, and you will indeed impact this world that often seems too randomly violent to survive itself.

Fr. Joe and I talked this morning, and because of the violent past 24 hours, I’ve asked him to set aside the sermon he had already prepared for today, and respond rather to the scripture for today in light of the news from El Paso and Dayton (you can view our recorded worship here).

Let us Pray:

Loving God, you are the author and sustainer of our lives. You know the anguish of the sorrowful, you are attentive to the prayers of the brokenhearted. Hear your people who cry out to you in their need; strengthen their hope in your lasting goodness.

We pray today for those who have died because of violence, of racism, of ignorance, of broken mental stability. Draw those who have died to yourself; let your face shine upon them. May they be greeted with choirs of angels and experience your eternal peace and joy.

Be near to those who have been injured and recovering, and to those who lost their loved ones or lost their sense of security. Be for them a steady comfort and safe resting place.

Soften the hearts and set right the minds of those who would do violence to others. May hate be replaced with love, violence with peace and darkness with your light.

And finally open our eyes, our hearts, our minds, our lives so that our prayers will move us to action - acts of love and grace and courage that draws on our influence in the world - so we may bring it to a place that more accurately reflects the Kingdom you have promised to those who truly follow your way of love.

All this we ask in your holy name.
Amen.

 --- Fr. Brad


 

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