Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times? Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times. For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared …” (Mt. 18:21-23)

The headline this morning: 10-year-old girl shot in arm in Euclid, suspect arrested.

It was the middle of the afternoon, and her school had just let out. She was about home. Thank God, she is reported as recovering from her injury; how long it will take her, her family, her friends, her community to stop shaking was not speculated upon in the article.

The report went on to say that she was hit by a stray bullet. I was struck by the all-too-familiar phrase, one that has resonance far beyond this sad case. Think about it: stray bullets with no home nor owner, wandering our streets, looking for somewhere to lodge.

Last evening, at Bible Study, we discussed our responsibility not only to forgive, but to change situations, structures, and relationships that give rise to trespass, so that the sin does not keep repeating; to create conditions where true repentance and healing are possible. We talked about the need not to paper over patterns of harm, but to confront them with truthful, hopeful, discerning hearts, in order to bring mercy not only to sinners but to the sinned against.

Calling a bullet stray, like a wandering and mangy dog, is akin to brushing off offence without regard to healing the conditions that gave rise to it or the harm its kind can continue to cause as long as we refuse to call it what it is. Justice is not just a matter of calling the bullet-owner to account. It is coming to terms with our loose culture of bullet-ownership.

The way of the Cross calls us to look death (its dominions and its minions) in the eye and call it what it is, not in fear but in faith that Christ has already trodden this path for us. There are no stray bullets, just as there were no stray nails pounding themselves into the Cross.

It is up to us to choose another way, another Word, to choose life. Our children – every child – deserves better than “a stray bullet.”