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.