Lay Down Your Sword
Lay down your sword, the Savior said;
He healed the wounded with his word.
Wisdom is more than weapons of war.
Lay down your sword, the Savior said.
With another two major mass shootings in the past week, both in California, the painful reality of gun violence continues to confront us. This weekâs incidents have seen the highest death toll since last yearâs horrific shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde; they also call back to our attention the many deaths and injuries that have happened since, through individual acts of violence and suicide attempts. It can be so hard to avoid despair; it is so hard to hold on to hope.
Yet we must keep sight of hope, for the very culture war that fuels the epidemic of gun violence would seem to rely upon our despair. Though deeply saddened by the losses this past week, I was encouraged by Nickolas Kristofâs New York Times column, which reminds us to regard guns not as sacred artifacts to be venerated or as things to be banned outright â pathways which are idolatrous and unrealistic, respectively â but as a reality of American life which, when misused, constitutes a public health crisis. And we are very much in a crisis today.
Kristof writes, âFor decades, weâve treated gun violence as a battle to be won rather than a problem to be solved â and this has gotten us worse than nowhere.â He reminds us that regulating cars, tobacco and even pet ownership provide a model for how as a society can have safe firearm management without resorting to culture-war hyperbole. There actually are solutions that work.
Iâm writing not to say this is easy, but rather to say: donât believe anything that would lead you to despair. There are indeed ways to reduce gun deaths, and those who are committed to it must first and foremost hold on to hope. Donât let despair crowd out hope because despair and apathy want all your attention.
Next Sunday (February 5) weâll sing a hymn at 11:15 written by the Rev. Rosalind Hughes, a priest known well to Trinity who is committed to ending gun violence. When we sing, we recommit to hope for Godâs promise of a peaceful world, but we also deprive despair of the fuel it uses to keep us stuck. God knows we need hope to make this world safer, more loving, and more humane. Thatâs why we continue to work, and advocate, and pray, and sing for an end to this epidemic of gun violence.
Lay down your sword, the Savior said;
He healed the wounded with his word.
Wisdom is more than weapons of war
Lay down your sword, the Savior said.