An End to Gun Violence
We can end gun violence.
Each year 43,000 Americans are shot and killed. More than 75,000 more are wounded. Though shootings happen every day, it seems that every few weeks we are jolted awake once again by a new level of horror, be it a school or synagogue or grocery store shooting that claims innocent lives while so often putting the demons of racism, xenophobia and homophobia on full graphic display. As we know too well, those tragic events are then met with outrage by some and a little more than a flourish of thoughts and prayers by others.
And yet, we believe something surprisingly radical: we can end gun violence. It’s radical though it shouldn’t be: the United States stands alone in its inability to contain the epidemic of gun violence, not because we lack the resources but because we lack the will and the imagination to do it.
This Sunday I invite you to share your grief, your anger, and your hope for the future by joining us this Sunday for Wear Orange Sunday. It happens to also be one of the major feasts of the year – Trinity Sunday – yet our colors will speak of what Trinitarian faith means for a world in crisis. We are defined not by our ability to project violence, as nations and well-armed individuals are, but as children of God known by our love, our mutual affection and our willingness to sacrifice for others.
Our political culture would tell us that we cannot do anything to end the epidemic of gun violence ravaging so many lives in our nation. Yet our faith tells us otherwise: this is the holy work not just of politics but of healing and reconciliation, and if it flows from self-giving love, then God will be with us in our work.
We can end gun violence.
