Tag Archives: gun violence

What will we do?

We participate in one another’s futures. So we will offer our presence, our presence of mind, our best efforts to love one another in word, in deed, by statute. Continue reading

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Mother of exiles

We gathered in song in a baseball park adjacent to the prison. Our hosts advised us that the women inside could hear us rallying and praying on their behalf. Continue reading

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Murdering Truth

It seems as though when we have beaten truth into our own image, and still it insists on speaking its own mind, we wash our hands of it. We make enemies of purveyors of inconvenient information. We shoot the messenger. Continue reading

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David and Goliath

Jesus tells us several times that if we want to see God at work, we could do worse than to look to the children. “Let the little children come to me,” he said, “for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs;” and again, “Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” Continue reading

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Eleison

Christ, have mercy, we expostulate once more. Continue reading

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Stealing the gospel

More guns bring more violence, and we have had enough of the ‘gall of bitterness and the chains of wickedness.’ Continue reading

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Cleansing the temple

Christ, cleanse our temple courts where money changes hands to purchase  sacrificial lambs offered on the high altar hymned with thoughts and prayers and the black sheep, tethered, set aside for the devotions of white-robed acolytes, while mourners shuffle ceaseless intercessions … Continue reading

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“Startled” is putting it mildly

“I mention all of this because I am able to consider Donald Trump’s suggestion that teachers in school should carry weapons, recalling my roles as a soldier, an educator and a parent.” Continue reading

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Bruising God

Just before setting the bow in the sky as a sign of the covenant of mercy between God and all flesh, God tells Noah that since humanity was made in God’s image, God will require a reckoning for our lifeblood. God considers violence against any one of us violence against God’s own self. Continue reading

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Do not give your heart to the ashes

The landscape within which we live is littered with sin, from the scars we inflict upon the earth on up through the twisted veins of hearts that would burn down a church built in the image of God’s mercy. And it is impossible to stand here in an attitude of repentance tonight without acknowledging the complicity of our common life in the deaths of 17 students, children, at a high school in Florida this afternoon. Our participation in systems of sin, as its priests and as its victims, is as inevitable as the ice of winter. Continue reading

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