Dear Covenant Family,
I met my friend the Rev. Rosalind Hughes in a fourth-grade classroom. This may surprise you, but there are not that many female clergy who happen to sign up to be room moms for the same teacher, in the same small town. Since then, Rosalind and I have been in and out of contact, each exploring ministry in our own traditions. But then our paths crossed a few years ago, as we ran into each other in the lobby of a small nursing home, both there for a pastoral visit, and she asked a simple question. Could I interview you? She said, I’m writing a book, and I heard your church has experienced a violent incident. I agreed, and we had meaningful conversations about children and trauma, and what we can learn from the youngest disciples among us. She called the chapter- “And a Little Child Shall Lead Them”.
This past Sunday, our paths crossed again, as I watched Rosalind in a tent outside her church in Euclid, where she had set up a small blacksmith forge for a very special project. Earlier that morning her church hosted an event where more than fifty firearms were turned in and dismantled, in partnership with God Before Guns. As we gathered inside for a prayer vigil with the church windows open, we could hear Rosalind pounding, iron on iron, and by the time we came outside again, she had taken part of a handgun and worked it into a garden towel. It was not perfect, but her working of the iron under heat and pressure meant that never again would that metal be a gun on the street. Addressing the crowd in her soft-spoken British accent, she said that if she could learn to be a blacksmith, we could all do something to end gun violence. And believe me, after reading the lists of names from Uvalde and children from Cuyahoga County, every one of us left wanting to do more. We don’t have to learn blacksmithing, but we can contact legislators, build and support strong families, advocate for children, raise our voices and our prayers.
When Jesus told his disciples to welcome the children and not to hinder them, I think he meant for us to keep them safe and to do our best to remove the obstacles to understanding themselves as God’s beloved. At the summer arts festival in University Circle, every organization had an activity for children- craft projects, health information, snacks and games. At our church’s tent, children and adults wrote prayers for peace, learned about “giants of peace”, picked up a peace crane or a fairy wand, and were welcomed by volunteers who have long dedicated their ministry to children’s welfare. In the background there was food and music and dancing mushrooms and colorfully costumed giant stilt walkers to remind us to play and laugh, to build the beloved community and to nurture one another toward health and wholeness.
Peace,
Pastor Jessie
