Bridges

"For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us."  --Ephesians 2:14, New Revised Standard Version

Tomorrow, I have been invited to participate in the dedication of the new bridge that will connect people and communities across the Missouri River at Washington, Missouri.  I will offer an invocation as part of the ceremony.  It is an honor to have been asked.  I will join with Father Joseph Wormek of St. Francis Borgia Catholic Parish, who will bless the bridge.  Our presence together on the bridge signals a coming together of religious communities that were once estranged.  The community where we serve places a high value on coming together and working through issues that divided past generations.  It is important that we serve together.  There is so much more that we can do together than we can do when we are divided.

In that regard, I think of the Harvest Table, which is a community ministry that is housed at St. Peter's United Church of Christ.  This is not the ministry of one church or even that of the ecumenical Church in Washington.  This ministry belongs to the community and is a testimony to the care that comes when different groups work together for the common good.  When bridges are built, the hungry and those who need others to share a table of respect and dignity with them are fed.  I am grateful for the generosity of civic groups, local businesses, gardeners, and a multitude of volunteers who make this ministry possible.  We can do more together than we can do when we are divided.

Sometimes we take the bridges for granted.  I have never stopped to count how many bridges are necessary when I travel to and from St. Louis.  There are rivers, creeks, and ravines all around us that need to be bridged for a safe trip.  I think of Pastor Herman Garlichs of Femme Osage, who made the trip across the Missouri River by boat to found the church in which I now serve.  There was adversity and danger in crossing to the other side of the river to create there a community of faith.  We take so much for granted.

The author of Ephesians reminds us that Christ is our peace.  Christ is our bridge, who spans the hostility between Jews and Gentiles.  Christ is our bridge, who brings disparate peoples together as one and unites them in a common purpose.  Christ is the bridge that unites the races and religions of the world.  Christ is our bridge, who creates a new community where there is unity, peace, and justice for all.  How we need that bridge in these days!  

I heard a report yesterday that was startling.  The life expectancy rate in the United States has dropped because of suicides and drug overdoses.  William Dietz, a disease expert at George Washington University, diagnoses the underlying disease as hopelessness.  We must bridge the hopelessness and the fear and the hostility that lead to premature death.  Christ is our bridge to life.

Tomorrow, I will pray for those who will travel across the Missouri River bridge in this generation and those yet to come.  As I do that, I will be thinking, too, of other places that need to be spanned in our society.  It is high time for us to attend to the bridges that still need to be built to create a world where enmity and fear are overcome.  We need more bridges to bring peoples together for a good and prosperous life.  Will you join me in the construction project of a lifetime?  Let's build a bridge together.

I'm Grateful for . . .

Yesterday was Thanksgiving Day, a national holiday devoted to gratitude.  As we traveled to visit with family, I thought of a church member from my ministry in California, Missouri.  Karen taught her adult Sunday School class a profound lesson about gratitude.  She suggested that we use "grateful for" rather than "proud of" in our daily speech.  That lesson changed how I think and speak.  It has shaped my spirit.

When we say, "I'm proud of you," the words may be spoken from a position of superiority and judgment.  It may be a compliment that comes with strings attached--a way to control another person: "I am proud of you now, and I will expect even more from you in the future."  It's an egotistical expression. 

 On the other hand, to say, "I'm grateful for you," sounds more sincere and genuine to me.  It may spoken from a place of humility--a more egalitarian place.  It is spoken by one who is not my superior but my companion and my friend, one who understands and appreciates me, one who is on the level with me.  It opens the door for further conversation.

Language matters.  That idyllic scene with Pilgrims and Native peoples sitting down together for the first Thanksgiving dinner is not about pride but about gratitude.  They were grateful for the companionship and the cooperation.  They were grateful to God who brought them together and provided for them abundantly.  This picture is one that we might well transpose in other times with other peoples--where we share the table as both host and guest.  It is true communion, a table of grace and gratitude.

Today, I am grateful for those who have taught me and shaped my spirit.   I remember companions on the journey . . . with a thankful heart.  I am grateful for you.

Stop This Madness

"You shall not murder."

--God

I woke up yesterday to a notification that another mass shooting had happened in the United States.  This time it was in a country music bar frequented by college students in Thousand Oaks, California.  Twelve people, including the a law enforcement officer, were dead.  According to USA Today, there have been 307 shootings in which four or more individuals were killed in the past 311 days.  "Thousand Oaks makes 307 mass shootings in 311 days"

We have grown numb to the violence.  These tragedies are being committed at a rate that causes us to lose touch with reality.  Killing follows killing.  We cannot keep the memory clear about when the last one occurred, where it was, who was killed.  It's insane.

For some, the Second Amendment is about absolute freedom to own all kinds of firearms that were never imagined at the time of the Constitutional Convention of 1787.  Our neighbors in the country owned rapid-fire weapons and would use them for target practice on their farm.  The first morning that we awakened to the sound of shooting was startling.  It sounded like a war was happening across the valley.  Soon we grew accustomed to the sound.  I always imagined the pile of empty casings created in the barrage of bullets flying around that farm.  My neighbors had the right to own and enjoy those weapons, but I wonder what pleasure they brought.  Did they make the neighborhood more safe and secure?

This essay is not about inciting an argument over gun rights.  Those arguments go nowhere.  Entrenched minds are not convinced and seldom, if ever, changed.  Rather, I write in the hope that we might all step back and say, "No more of this murderous madness!"  We are not powerless in the face of this violence and bloodshed in places we once considered safe--shopping malls, movie theaters, night clubs, concerts, and houses of worship.  It is time to stop hating.  It is time to stop dividing people into camps--"us" verses "them."  It is time to stop the rhetoric that incites more violence.  We all have a role and responsibility to stop this madness.

My own religious community, the United Church of Christ, has spoken out often about the role of gun violence in our society:  UCC Resolutions and Responses to Gun Violence  I remember well the Rev. Matt Crebbin, Pastor of Newtown Congregational Church.  His witness is one that has always inspired me.  Matt came face to face with gun violence in his community when little children were killed at the local elementary school.  In the midst of and in the aftermath of that tragedy, Pastor Crebbin found his voice and is working to change the world.  We all have words to offer that may change the world for the better.  It is time to find our voice.

I want to stand up before worship next weekend and not only say, "No matter who you are and where you are on life's journey, you are welcome here."  I also want to say, "If you are feeling hostile and angry--like you might harm yourself or someone else--come and talk to me or seek out another professional to help you."  None of us, says Paul, lives or dies to themselves.  We are all connected in Christ.  Every act of violence affects us all.   Every act of gun violence threatens us all.  It is time to stop this madness . . . now.