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Friends,

We live in a nation where we have not yet mourned the dead from one tragedy before the next one is upon us. I have been struggling for over a week now to find words to say about the mass shootings and extremist rhetoric which frequently go hand-in-hand. On May 14, at a grocery store in Buffalo, NY, an 18-year-old white man, motivated by racist ideology, murdered ten Black patrons of the store and injured several others. People who were just going about their day, buying a cake for a birthday party; helping a sick brother; getting a few items after visiting her husband in a nursing home, were killed in a matter of seconds. On May 15, at a Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods, CA, a gunman barricaded the doors at a luncheon honoring the Taiwanese pastor, and opened fire on a largely elderly crowd. He was tackled by a doctor, who sacrificed his own life to save others, and five people survived their injuries.

And on Tuesday, May 24, we were horrified, shocked, and deeply saddened by another mass shooting, this time at an elementary school in Uvalde, TX, where another 18-year-old with a semi-automatic rifle murdered nineteen students and two teachers, and sent several others to the hospital with serious injuries. Those children and their teachers should have been celebrating the end of the school year yesterday; instead, an entire community will never be the same and their parents and families are grieving for the children they will never hold again.  

These kinds of events happen with such alarming regularity in the United States that many of them never even make national news coverage. A mass shooting is defined as a single event in which four or more people are shot. There were at least 15 other mass shootings in the ten days between Buffalo and Uvalde. There have been 27 school shootings just this year. How do we continue to allow these things to happen in this country, when no other country in the world faces such horrific statistics? I am tired of politicians who act like there is nothing we can do to prevent the next mass shooting from happening. I am tired of blaming mental health of the shooters when it is clear that easy access to guns is the real problem. I am tired of the collective outrage of the vast majority of Americans who support universal background checks and other common sense gun reform laws being stonewalled by politicians who are bought by the NRA.

As people of faith, and followers of Christ, we believe that life is precious, a gift from God. We believe that God calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves. When one of us hurts, we all hurt. We all feel the pain of those who have lost a loved one to gun violence, and we want to prevent others from having to endure that same pain. Civil Rights activist Ella Baker once said, “Until the killing of black men, black mothers' sons, becomes as important to the rest of the country as the killing of a white mother's son, we who believe in freedom cannot rest until this happens.”

In a statement from the Burlington Interfaith Clergy Association, it reads, “We also recommit ourselves to the work of addressing racism in our communities, homes, and houses of worship, and to call out the lies and twisted messages that run rampant on social media. We condemn the dramatic rise in racist, antisemitic, anti-Muslim, anti-Asian, misogynistic, homophobic and transphobic ideas in the U.S. that engender hate and division. None of these have a place in the free and democratic society we cherish, nor in the communities of faith we serve.”

Let us work together for the common good. In prayer and in action, let us have faith that things can change. In closing, I share this prayer from Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie:
 
A Prayer for Hope amid Despair
 
Oh God, here I am again. Hopeless. Overwhelmed. Angry. The world is so broken. People are so cruel. The vulnerable are once again dying, ignored, oppressed.

I want to have hope but it feels so futile. What good is my hope if nothing seems to change?

God, give me a new heart to love what You love. Give me a new spirit to be faithful as You are faithful. Give me fresh eyes to see how You see.

I want to be a person who is not mired in inaction in the face of despair, but who works to realize Your vision for the world. Who participates in unleashing Your kingdom of peace and gentleness and love.

May I be a person marked by bright hope in the midst of the darkest of hours. May I be an Easter person. Amen.
 
In prayerful hope and solidarity,
Rev. Trina Portillo
Moderator, Presbytery of Boston
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