A Perspective on the Shootings in San Bernardino, CA

Take a breath.

In the grist mill of 24/7/365 news outlets and their insatiable need to raise ratings,

In the midst of horrific images being thrust upon the airwaves with increasing urgency that you 'see' and are thirsting to see more,

In the culture of mistrust of those who are perceived as 'different', whether in race, religion, sexuality, ethnicity, or even by vocation,

In the rising wave of political correctness, volatile issues and hot button talking points which command more attention than any attempt at being truly human,

In the fear which is imposed on a community, a state, a nation and our world in acts of brutal savagery that reduce human life and spirit into collateral damage to be counted,

In light of 14 more dead and 17 more injured, not counting the aggressors themselves, in San Bernardino, California,

And with all due respect to events in Paris, the Beirut bombing, the downing of the Russian jet liner, the Turkey peace rally bombing, and the events of war in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan . . .

Take a breath.

Breathe. Turn off the television and radio. Take in the quiet and listen to your heart.

No, this will not make these egregious events go away or any less complicated, but it will give you, your mind, your heart and your soul a chance to process on your own, without the pressing agendas of the politicians seeking support, special interest groups proving their point, media outlets trying hard to sell air time and relevancy, and fear overwhelming your life. Take a breath. Breathe out, breathe in. Pray.

A publication called the Daily News is receiving a great deal of attention this morning for their current headline, "GOD ISN'T FIXING THIS". I haven't read their article or given a moment of time to their intent, yet my first knee jerk response to reading the headline was, 'They are half right.' God isn't fixing this but, as in the life and ministry of Jesus, as in the moment He was betrayed, tried, and beaten, as in the event of Him being paraded down the streets of Jerusalem and crucified on a cross in the midst of a garbage heap . . . God isn't fixing this, but God is in the midst of it with more power, love, grace, mercy and transformative vision than any magazine, newspaper, television or radio reporter or editor might ever imagine. God is at work in this . . . so be careful of that for which you pray.

Breathe. Pray.

When you pray for Peace, do you really expect God to magically make peace occur in the hearts of women and men across the world?

When you pray for Comfort, do you expect God to be the one who makes whole the hearts of the grieving, as though it could suddenly happen?

When you pray for a cessation of war, do you expect God to silence the weapons of humankind and make merciful the hearts of those who have been and are historically oppressed by the privileged?

When you pray the hungry are fed and the thirsty are given drink, is God the one who is supposed to make the sandwiches and fill the glasses with water?

When you pray for everyone to get along, are you expecting God to meld the hands of victims and oppressors together and have them sing in harmony, "Kum Ba Yah"?

When you pray for sanity and understanding to guide the leaders of our nations, are you imploring God to mystically transform the insanity of our decision making processes and shower down goodwill for all people to receive?

God isn't fixing this, but God is in the midst of it . . . in you.

Perhaps legislating greater control over the sale of weapons would help, but the deeper issue is related to self-control, as opposed to entitlement, self-righteousness, and arrogance towards others. No government can legislate honor, respect of others, common sense or appreciation for the greater community. No government can legislate self-respect, self-control, care for the community or desire to guard the common good. No government can do for the common person what the common person must do for themselves in the building and under-girding of family, faith and community.

While we are busily assigning blame and assuring ourselves that someone else will do what we, personally, must be doing, those who would terrorize us do so by stripping away our assurances of safety, while taking credit for doing it and blithely accepting blame for that which most horrifies us. The world community is shot at, executed, bombed, and land-minded, literally, to death by our own unwillingness to accept responsibility for being peaceable, comforting, patient, understanding, gracious, merciful and hospitable with others.

Muslims are not the terrorists, Christians are not the terrorists, even ISIS is not the terrorists. We who pray to God to do what we ourselves are unwilling to do in our own lives and faith are the terrorists. We who expect others to protect and defend our faith (whatever that is) and our nation against those who are different (whatever that means) in the most humane and politically acceptable manner (depending on the day) and will not ourselves lift a finger or make a commitment or offer our own lives in the care and defensive of the defenseless are the terrorists. We who are better at assigning blame, naming the causes, and identifying the issues than we are at standing shoulder-to-shoulder with our sisters and brothers in caring for the widow, orphan and marginalized among us are the terrorists.

As frightening as all of the warring and civilian killing is around the world, the ones who concern me most are the ones who abdicate the fullness of their humanity in relating to our world as a holy community of sisters and brothers for fear of losing their own life, their own position, their own privilege and their own ease as part of the cost they may have to pay in being just, equitable and whole. No gun-control legislation will cure such narcissism, neither will prayers heal the community rooted in such living.

Breathe, Pray.

God is in the midst of the events of our age . . . inviting us to take up our cross and follow Jesus, not at the expense of, or retaliation towards, those who live and believe differently, but in the ongoing witness those who follow Him make in embracing the Realm of God in the present age. God longs to be at work in you - that the events of San Bernardino, Paris, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., Syria, Beirut, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan never happen again.

Breathe. Pray. Live.

Live as a people of hope whose confidence in is One whose weapons are exposed at the door of an empty tomb, for there we see Forgiveness, Love and New Life revealed for the first time, all over again, as God wipes away the terror of the night and brings Joy in the dawning of a new day. 

Breathe. Pray. Live.

May God bless the victims, their families and those who tend to them and protect them in San Bernardino . . . and in every age and place . . . as we learn to live together in the Realm of God come near. 

In Response to Lafayette, LA.

“Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications! If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered. I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning.” Ps. 130.1-6 NRSV

Last evening our 7 year old granddaughter asked her father, “Why do all these shootings happen?” as news of the killings in the theatre in Lafayette, Louisiana came across the screen of their television. It is a great question and one that I’m not sure anyone can answer with accuracy or certainty, yet the questions of our children and grandchildren will not be silenced. “Why do all these shootings happen?”

Already this morning there were the usual and varied calls for gun control and tighter gun availability through registration, which are the expected political speaking points on days such as this, for it is far easier to speak of reducing crime by controlling weapons than it is to consider the deeper issues of ‘why’ such crimes occur. Additionally, social media sources and individuals are calling for, and offering, prayers for the victims, their families, the community, those in the theatre not injured, the First Responders, the Police, the Mayor, the Governor . . . and for the shooter and his family. People, all kinds of people, are echoing the question of a 7 year old, “Why do all these shootings happen?”

“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning.”

I cannot and will not argue the relative ease with which folk can purchase firearms, but before there were guns, there were swords and knives and, before there were swords and knives, there were rocks and limbs. People will acquire what they need, legally or illegally, to do what they want to do. Can gun registration be tightened? Of course. Might ease of accessibility of firearms be more restricted? Yes.

Yet, the bottom line is this: None of that answers the prayers of the masses or the question of a 7 year old, “Why do all these shootings happen?” By extension, one might surmise that along the Via Dolorosa on a day not so very long ago another 7 year old might have asked, “Why do all these crucifixions happen?” for, the truth is, we haven’t answered the essential question of ‘Why’, simply because it is easier to deal with the ‘How’ with our laws. The ‘Why’ requires something far deeper and self-assessing of each of us – and we would rather not touch such places or imagine such answers. Their implications might pierce our own comfortable soul.

What happens if the answer to ‘Why’ has to do with the widening economic gap in our culture? With those ‘who-have’ investing and legislating ‘those-who-have-not’ into even more cataclysmic financial burdens?

What happens if the answer to ‘Why’ has to do with modern day self-proclaimed prophets who tell the masses what is wrong with the state of their lives, create the stir for ‘reformation’, set the fires, then go back to their comfortable homes, private schools for their children, safe employment and retirement plans, smug in their certainty they are making a difference in race relations, equity and justice? Whatever happened to the prophet who lived and labored among the people – and didn’t just visit?

What happens if the answer to ‘Why’ has to do with an increasing sense of fear about and for our world and the broadening sense of insecurity among the people and our nations? With the building dread for who or what might be considered an enemy and the looming wonderment if we will even be able to tell?

What happens if the answer to ‘Why’ has to do with the state of religion in today’s world? With Christians who place themselves as judge and jury over anyone with whom they have a disagreement about sin? With radical Christians, Muslims and Jews, all of whom believe themselves so righteous in their faith that the only way they can keep themselves pure is to eliminate everyone who is not the same as them or is a threat to them?

What happens if the answer to ‘Why’ has to do with an ever-increasing devaluation of life itself? With husbands and wives who cheat with others, with video games which ‘kill’ then start over again, with the sense that nothing really matters if it doesn’t affect me directly or with the idea that we can use up the earth and its’ resources and pollute the earth while expecting no real consequence which will affect our generation?

What happens if the answer to ‘Why’ has to do with parents who birth, but do not parent? With communities which require compliance, but do not comply? With corporations which worship the profits, but profit no-one other than themselves? With nations which consume creation, yet create nothing on which others might depend?

What happens if the answer to ‘Why’ has to do with a faith which prays, but does not listen for an Answer? With a Church which seeks the conversion of all the earth, but only secondarily focuses on doing any earthly good? With a growing sense of having no voice in the outcome of life, yet hearing no one else’s dread of not being heard? With wanting to live each day for a purpose, but purposely living each day only for one-self?

What happens if the answer to ‘Why’ is simply and poignantly on display before us as the driver of the car casually tosses her beer can out the window? Throws his fast-food bag of trash on the ground? Or another refuses to ‘re-use’? And yet another plays the game, ‘Smash the beer/soda can/bottle against the highway sign while driving down the road?

What happens if the answer to ‘Why’ has to do with you and me . . . and our unwillingness to be neighbor to another, even as the Levite and Priest passed by on the other side of the road when viewing the man beaten and in the ditch? With our own sense of entitlement – and fear of getting involved – even though we are called to be as the Samaritan who chose to change his day and journey to tend to the wounded man?

What happens if the answer to ‘Why’ . . . impinges on our well-ordered theories of life and faith, revealing us to be no less hypocritical regarding those who are different from us than the Elders and Chief Priests were of Jesus? When we will not and cannot accept differences in sexuality, ethnicity, race, politics, equity of pay and justice for gender in the workplace . . . and the faith-place?

What happens if the answer to ‘Why’ . . . .

“Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice!” . . . and cause me to listen to Yours, to live your Word, to embody your Meaning, to do your Will.

I am convinced the answer to the question asked by my 7 year old granddaughter – and 7 year old children around the world, “Why do all these shootings happen?” will only superficially be found in our corporate management of firearms. I am also increasingly profoundly convinced that the root answer to such a question will only be found when, in praying to God for answers, relief, healing and comfort, we dare to look in the mirror of the cross and see ourselves in the nails which continue to pierce His flesh and hold Him on the rough wood of our behaviors.

In the moment we can divest ourselves from having to be right, have the most, be in control, have the authority, assume the power, gather all the resources, and be adored by the masses/elected to be king/queen by their joyous acclamation . . . in that moment, when we humbly believe and serve as we are believed in and served . . . we will be nearer the Answer for which our soul longs - and not until then.

I mourn this day for the loss of so many lives in Lafayette, Louisiana. I mourn for the community, our nation and our world in the face of such brutality and senselessness.

God did not cause this to happen, nor is God giving us only what we can endure, nor does God have such cruelty as part of some ‘grand-plan’ from which we can all learn something. No, such things are not of God, but neither are such things out of God’s capacity to redeem, as the teacher protecting the other teacher there that night reminds us. So it is that I mourn, too, our loss of innocence. Once upon a time we were content to blame everything upon the will of God and take ourselves off the hook for our behaviors regarding God and each other. No longer can such innocence be claimed or tolerated, lest we never answer the question of ‘Why’ because it is personally easier to address the issue of ‘How’.

As we near the end of Summer in the approach of August, I pray each of us are approaching a new day in Christ and the beginning of a future marked by truthful, thoughtful answers to the questions of 7 year olds throughout the earth. Their future depends on our diligence, honesty and faithfulness in facing the answers – and our soul requires no less. Peace be with you all on the journey.

Pastor Don

After Aurora

My prayers are with the victims and their families and friends of Aurora, Colorado. I am praying, also, for the shooter and his family and friends. Such pain and heartbreak. Such indescribable isolation and grief for all.


Over the course of the last few days I have listened intently to the news broadcasts about the events of that night in a place which seems so far away, yet brought next door through the technology of our day. Time after time, the horrific details are presented by newscasters trying to view a tragedy from every possible angle and, time after time, the unblinking eye of the camera is simply incapable of capturing the crimson of the blood, the torn flesh, the fading horror of the screams, or the acrid smell of a gunpowder filled auditorium. Truth be told, I'm not sure many of us could stand it if they could.

We are the incidental observers of disaster, wanting to know every detail, wanting to assist where we can . . . and desiring to place blame as quickly as possible, so as to assuage our personal and corporate consciences of any connection to what has happened. If we can blame the shooter, if we can name the company who supplied him with his protective apparel, if we can identify the places from which he bought his weapons, and if we can take a stance against the way this person acted, then maybe we have named the evil and sheltered ourselves from it ever touching us or being related to our lives. "Could it be me? No, it couldn't be me!" is our collective mantra, much like the disciples on the night Jesus was betrayed.

Guns. "If we could just outlaw guns!", a number of people of said. I suspect there were quite a few folk around in the days our Lord walked the earth who thought similar things about crosses. "Damn crosses! Those things should be outlawed!" I suspect, too, if we could have things our way, the same would be said about incendiary devices, tanks, bombs, landmines, drones, missiles and warships, much as in days gone by people said the same about arrows, spears, jagged war clubs and even pointed stones. 'If only we could take away or properly regulate access to such things, everything would be alright.' Thus, was birthed the party planks upon which politicians of every age have stood. Still, the problem remains that no-one is certain how to name or address: the human condition.

Since Cain rose up against Abel and slew him over a perceived slight, humankind has been in the business of killing. Killing for property, over mates, for money, for power, over food, even for the notoriety it can bring . . . you name it, humanity has and will kill for it. Weapons are a means to an end. It matters little which weapon is at hand when one person or a group of persons desire a way to make their point or to accomplish their task. Pointing our fingers at guns and saying, 'There, that's the problem!' when something like Aurora, Colorado occurs is like picking up a book of matches or a lighter when an arsonist works their evil and saying, 'Here! This is the problem!'

No, my friends, the problem is far deeper than either guns or matches. Fact is, I am not nearly qualified to name it, but I know it when I see it. You do, too. The problem manifests itself in many ways, insidiously weaving itself into and through the very fabric of every one of our lives, so tightly so, that to name it is to implicate the sin of our own living and that would simply be too painful. So, it is easier to legislate the means by which evil does its work, then to identify the complicity we have in the issue.

That we not get lost in the depth of despair of such a truth, God comes to us in Jesus. God takes on our humanity. God shows a higher way, a more intimate manner to live in relationship with the other. God honors the spirit in each one with the Holy Spirit for each one . . . and we are called the do the same.

Where honoring the integrity of God's creation in each other breaks down, crosses rise up. Guns are fired. Matches are lit. Food is not shared. Medical attention is not given. Water is not poured out. Strangers are not welcomed. The sick are not given care. Good News is not spoken to the imprisoned . . . and we can name such moments with terms like Holocaust, World Wars Ruanda, Ethiopia, Apartheid, World Trade Center, and now, Aurora, Colorado . . . and in the end, both victim and aggressor are left diminished, grief-stricken and despairing. For the victim, the violence of being selected and marginalized is crushing and, for the aggressor, the violence is seldom enough.

Yes, I guess the press and the masses are right. It is easier to address gun control and what kinds of weapons are available to what kinds of people, than it is to say we are a part of the problem. Yet, it is in the moment of confession, in the humility of admitting we are complicit in the crosses of every age, of this age, that finally, fully, we can become a part of the solution. It is not until we dare to see the other with the eyes of Jesus that we will ever be truly free and it will not be until we dare to walk the faith with Jesus that we know the joy of fully living. In such moments true change occurs in creation, but until we move there we will never know.

My prayers are with the victims and their families and friends in Aurora, Colorado. May God's Peace, Love and Grace keep each of them. And, may God forgive the part of James Holmes that is in every one of us . . . which deepens my awe of the Christ who said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."