From the Bridge Pastor
As with millions of people in the United States and around the world, I grieve the loss of life in yet another school shooting. I have read several other responses (see a couple of them below) in which a phrase from Psalm 13 is quoted, “How long, O Lord?” I wonder if that is the incorrect question. I wonder if God is asking us, “How long, O my people? I created you above all animals. You know what is right and what is wrong. How long, O my people, will you choose to do what is wrong? How long, O my people, will you choose not to protect the innocent ones among you? How long, O my people, will you allow blood money to dictate laws that all such easy access to weapons meant to kill? How long, O my people…how long, O my people…how long?
This is the last week of Easter. On Sunday we will gather celebrate Pentecost, the Day on which the Holy Spirit descending upon the disciples, and they were able to proclaim the Good News of the God’s love for all people in languages that everyone could understand. I imagine the sound of all those languages may have resembled the cacophony the people experienced in the Old Testament when God created chaos at the Tower of Babel as told in Genesis 11. The descendants of Noah were living in the area of Mesopotamia in Babylon. The population was growing, and they all spoke one language. The people decided to build a tall, proud symbol of how great they had made their nation. The Babylonians wanted a tower that would “reach to the heavens” so that they could be like God and that they would not need Him. They began to construct a great ziggurat.
God did not like the pride and arrogance in the hearts of the people. God caused the people to suddenly speak different languages so they could not communicate and work together to build the tower. This caused the people to scatter across the land. The tower was named The Tower of Babel because the word babel means confusion.
Please keep the Open and Affirming Task Force in your prayers as we move forward to live into our sign at the bottom of the stairway to the second floor: “Jesus didn’t reject people. Neither do we.” Our next meeting will be June 5.
Soli Deo Gloria (to God alone be the glory)!
Pastor Del
Enough!
Once again innocent adults and children are dead because of the ease at which people are able to procure guns meant for war. I am personally grief-stricken and angry! I share some thoughts through the writings of some others and of my own.
“America Is a Gun” (by Brian Bilston)
England is a cup of tea.
France, a wheel of ripened brie.
Greece, a short, squat olive tree.
America is a gun.
Brazil is football on the sand.
Argentina, Maradona’s hand.
Germany, an oompah band.
America is a gun.
Holland is a wooden shore.
Hungary, goulash stew.
Australia, a kangaroo,
America is a gun.
Japan is a thermal spring.
Scotland is a highland fling.
Oh, better to be anything
Then America as a gun.
From the Batavia United Church of Christ, Batavia, Ohio
A Pastoral Letter after the mass shootings in Buffalo, NY on May 14, and in Uvalde, TX on May 24, 2022
How long, O LORD? That is the question the psalmist asks in Psalm 13, a short poem of lament found in our Hebrew Bible. The writer asks this question four times, as they struggle with a grief, with a pain, that is apparently overwhelming.
How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I bear pain in my soul,
and have sorrow in my heart all day long?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
This is our cry today, too, “How long, O LORD?” Just 10 days after the racially motivated mass shooting in a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, NY that claimed ten precious lives, we heard the news yesterday afternoon of another outbreak of gun violence in a Uvalde, TX elementary school where 21 people were killed, 19 of them children.
And we are heartbroken.
And we are weary.
And we are angry in our very bones.
What is there that can possibly be said to bring comfort and solace at a time like this? I can only think of three things. The first was actually articulated by President Joe Biden in his address to the nation last night, when he quoted Psalm 34. That Psalm which answers, at least in part, the question asked by the writer of Psalm 13, “Will you forget me forever?” The simple answer is “No.” God has not forgotten us, has not abandoned us, has not left us alone in our pain and grief.
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted,
and saves the crushed in spirit.
The God of the universe, who created each one of us in the Divine Image, and loves us like the beloved children we are, is in our midst. God is heartbroken, and weary, and angry, too, and walks beside us, lighting a candle in our present darkness, to lead the way to hope and resurrection. We are not alone.
The second thing that may help at a time like this is the truth that we don’t have to live this way, that we can do something about this. America’s love affair with gun violence has gone on far, far too long, and now is the time to stand up and be counted, as we demand sane and rational gun laws. I know there is debate about this, no easy, one and done solution, but there are things we can demand from our lawmakers, reforms that can be made, and need to be made. A good place to start is to get informed, and to find out what you can do to make a difference. Everytown for Gun Safety, found online at https://www.everytown.org/, is a great organization that provides education and opportunities to be heard. There are others, as well, but this can be a first step.
And finally, we can pray…let’s start right now, with this prayer offered last night by the National Office of our denomination, the United Church of Christ. It is specifically in response to the violence in Uvalde, but speaks of our pain, our fear, our abiding hope, for Buffalo, and for all of the places where gun violence has reared its ugly head.
God, hear our prayer:
For the nineteen children now dead;
For the two adults now dead;
For the parents, family, and friends who will spend the rest of their lives aching every night from the weight of this;
For a schoolhouse rendered trauma-laden and grief-stricken in a matter of minutes, whose students will suffer PTSD in the wake of this tragedy;
For the caregivers in Uvalde now burdened with the task of managing the shared and collective grief of a traumatized community who love their children;
For those who feel the new burden of useless guilt in the aftermath of this, wondering what else they could have done to prevent this;
For the nation, so in love with our weapons that we continue to tolerate these mass shootings and the grief they inflict without ever building the collective will needed to address it fully;
For the world, suffering a massive and collective grief of its own and witnessing acts of cruelty daily too numerous to fully process.
Heal our gaping wounds.
Restore our sense of compassion.
Quiet the restlessness within us.
Settle the building righteous anger.
Quicken the desire for peace.
Remove the chasm that sees race and religion and political persuasion as the marks of a person’s worth and value.
End the cycle of violence that begets more violence.
Silence the voices that broker in fear and division and create the hatred we see mounting everywhere between us.
Quiet the troubled soul thinking of grabbing the next gun and ending innocent lives.
Empower us all to act now, refusing to wait for the next horror show before we change the laws that make guns and their discharge so accessible.
Turn anguish to action; our rage to restoration; our hatred to love; our grief to hope.
Let it never happen again. Ever. How much more can we bear, O LORD?
How much more can we endure.
Be our rock of refuge.
Be our light of inspiration.
Be our beacon of hope.
Be the arms of love that hold us until the pain recedes.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers.
Amen.
Love and Peace to you all,
Pastor Paige
From the Moravian Church in America, Southern Province
*Bishop’s Prayer Merciful and Loving God, “Like the psalmist so many years ago, we cry out, “How long, O LORD?” How long will it be before there is peace in our sinful world? Sometimes it feels like you have hidden your face from us, that you have forgotten us in our need. How long will we have sorrow in our hearts? How long shall the enemy be exalted over us? O Lord, have mercy. Hear our cries and our prayers! Our Father in heaven, by the power of your Spirit, be present with each person affected by this horrible act of violence in Uvalde, Texas. Their suffering is inexpressible, and human comfort fails. Our prayers for those who have lost their children and teachers seems so little in this time of overwhelming grief, yet we offer them as your children. God of all comfort, intervene in a mighty and compassionate way. Gather those who weep under your wings, like a hen comforts and protects her little ones. Comfort and uphold those who have been torn apart by this terrible act of violence. Bring healing and hope to the community. Spirit of God, awaken and inspire our nation! Give us hearts of compassion and a new resolve to know and do the things that make for peace. Guide us to discover the causes of these destructive actions, and help us reach out to people who are hurting before they act destructively. Give to those in authority the wisdom and guidance they need, so that we can move beyond words into actions that can reduce this kind of horrible suffering. O God, we put our trust in you alone. We lift our hearts to you. Hear and answer our prayers, offered in the name of your Son, the Prince of Peace, the Lamb who has conquered death, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.” *Contributors; L. Sapp, D. Burkette, G. Rights, S. Gray, T. Shelton, C. Foltz.
From the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Gracious God, news of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, has ripped our hearts and torn our souls. We are walking through the valley of the shadow of death. In the depths of pain and anger, we come before you, O God, our rock and our refuge, Ware are our only comfort. You are out only hope. Merciful God, you know the depth of our suffering. We have only begun to mourn those we have lost.
The ELCA grieves with the families of the nineteen students and two teachers killed in Tuesday's mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Mass shootings in this country over the past two weeks have deepened the wounds of grief and sorrow. This follows the racially motivated shooting of ten people in Buffalo NY; the shooting in Laguna Wood, CA; and the twenty-seven other school shootings that have occurred in 2022. Many of the shooters have targeted children and older adults—some of the most vulnerable in our society.
We reaffirm our commitment in calling for greater gun safety, including preventing easy access to assault style weapons and strengthening our federal system of background checks for all gun sales. As people of faith, we hold on to our belief in caring for our neighbors and striving for justice and peace in all the earth. We ask for continued support for all first responders that arrive at a moment's notice and placed their lives in harm's way for the sake of others. We ask for continued support for those providing medical, mental, and emotional support as we grieve over this tragedy. We lament for those who have perpetrated violence against others. We thank the leaders of the southwestern Texas Synod responding to the shooting in Uvalde and for ecumenical and interreligious partners committed to accompanying this community for the long term.
Our prayers continue to be lifted up for the Ukrainian people as the incursion by Russia continues and thousands of Ukrainians are fleeing the country in search of safety and as Ukrainian soldiers and civilians are dying. Lord, have mercy!
