Category Archives: gun violence
Freedom (see red link below)
Filed under American history, episcopal, Episcopal priest, freedom, gun violence, Justice, patriotism, US History
Wind my clock
It is bleak mourning,
gloomy despair.
Is it real or a terrible, awful nightmare?
Is it the valley of the shadow death
into which we thoughtlessly stumble, guns drawn;
killing innocence,
killing black, killing blue,
killing me, killing you?
Alton, dead.
Philando, dead.
Patrick, dead.
Brent, dead.
Michael K, dead.
Michael S, dead.
Lorne, dead
. . . dead . . . dead . . . dead . . . dead . . . dead . . . dead . . . dead . . .
Racism? Yes.
Prejudice? Yes.
Privilege? Yes.
Injustice? Yes.
Anger? Yes.
Mistrust? Yes.
Revenge? Yes.
. . . dead . . . dead . . . dead . . . dead . . . dead . . . dead . . . dead . . .
I am hopeless,
worn with sorrow,
aching with sin, the mark is missed.
This wicked racist culture–
Are we white enough, Mr. Duke?
This pernicious gun culture–
Are we safe enough, Mr. LaPierre?
Numb my soul, break my heart.
Stick me with a needle,
see if I feel,
see if I bleed.
It is a deadly, deadly web we weave.
********
In March of 1973, E. B. White wrote to a Mr. Nadeau, who sought White’s opinion on what he saw as a bleak future for the human race.
30 March 1973
Dear Mr. Nadeau:
As long as there is one upright man, as long as there is one compassionate woman, the contagion may spread and the scene is not desolate. Hope is the thing that is left to us, in a bad time. I shall get up Sunday morning and wind the clock, as a contribution to order and steadfastness.
Sailors have an expression about the weather: they say, the weather is a great bluffer. I guess the same is true of our human society—things can look dark, then a break shows in the clouds, and all is changed, sometimes rather suddenly. It is quite obvious that the human race has made a queer mess of life on this planet. But as a people we probably harbor seeds of goodness that have lain for a long time waiting to sprout when the conditions are right. Man’s curiosity, his relentlessness, his inventiveness, his ingenuity have led him into deep trouble. We can only hope that these same traits will enable him to claw his way out.
Hang on to your hat. Hang on to your hope. And wind the clock, for tomorrow is another day.
Sincerely,
(Signed, ‘E. B. White’)
********
John 12.46: I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness.
********
I will wind my clock . . .
Filed under episcopal, gun violence, Justice, police violence, racism, sorrow, terrorism
Day 33, Lent2016
Day 33–Today I write more personally.
I received a call from my middle daughter about an hour ago. She works for a retail establishment on the Kansas side of the KCMetro. This morning one of her co-workers came to work with a gun. My daughter, terrified, complained and was told there was nothing that can be done as Kansas is, after all, the wild west and any knucklehead can carry a gun just about anywhere s/he wants. Not satisfied, she made a call to the police, anonymously she thought. The local constabulary required her name for their report. They too told her there was nothing that could be done. They then called her work place and reported that she called and reported the presence of the gun. At this point, even more terrified, my daughter left work and swore never to go back. I don’t know how this will work out but I expect my daughter will end up unemployed over this. Chalk up another “victory” for gun idolatry.
So here we are.
The gun culture wins.
I really don’t know what the point is anymore.
Filed under episcopal, gun violence, Justice, Kansas city, lent
Day 27, Lent2016
Day 27–Again, we at St. Paul’s face another red vestment weekend, honoring those martyred by gun violence in our country. Every Sunday in Lent has been red save one. Is there no end to this chaos, this tragedy, this violence, this abuse? Sadly, I think not. Wednesday a young woman, eight months pregnant was shot and killed, violently and without mercy. This young woman’s mother reported they had been wondering what they would call this young child to be, what name would be attached to the possibilities of its life. The baby unborn, died nameless. Each person martyred by our gun culture, in our local tragedy and in Pittsburgh as well as the other 57 persons who died by gun violence in our country since Tuesday, had stories yet to tell, lives yet to live.
Sometimes I despair. Sometimes I wonder where God is in this craziness. Sometimes my faith seems insufficient to the task of serving God’s higher calling to humanity. Sometimes I wonder if we deserve the beloved community of grace and mercy and love.
Years ago, I discovered a Scottish poet named David Whyte. Whenever I find myself tripping headlong into the abyss of hopelessness, I remember this simple poem of faith. I offer it to you if you too find yourself overwhelmed by the bleakness of this moment.
(read by David Whyte)
Faith
I want to write about faith,
about the way the moon rises
over cold snow, night after night,
faithful even as it fades from fullness,
slowly becoming that last curving and impossible
sliver of light before the final darkness.
But I have no faith myself
I refuse it even the smallest entry.
Let this then, my small poem,
like a new moon, slender and barely open,
be the first prayer that opens me to faith.
— David Whyte
from Where Many Rivers Meet
©2007 Many Rivers Press
Daily Lectionary: http://www.lectionarypage.net/WeekdaysOfLent/FridayFourthWeek.html
Filed under David Whyte, episcopal, gun violence, Kansas city, lent
Day11, Lent2016
Lent 11—Kalamazoo . . . yet another occasion of gun violence, another Sunday of red vestments at St. Paul’s honoring more martyrs to the violence of our gun culture. There is no end for this.
This is not a Second Amendment matter even though I believe there is ample historical evidence to understand the Second Amendment to be narrowly intended for the maintenance of an armed standing (and official) militia. Gun ownership in our country is too long-standing a part of the American experience to imagine any dramatic change. I certainly don’t want anyone taking my rifles or shotguns away from me. Still, I believe there is a public interest and public good associated with rules and regulations regarding purchasing and registering guns, including restrictions on gun ownership for proper cause. No, my concern is not with the Second Amendment.
What I find troubling is the “gun solution” mentality that seems to be permeating and infecting the American citizenry. Guns more and more appear to be the go to solution for an ever-expanding array of problems people experience. Personally, I find the urgency with which gun advocates push “open-carry” legislation to be the symbol of this “gun solution” mentality and of our return to a destabilizing and deadly gun culture. Open-carry does not, in my opinion, represent an advancement of our civilization; rather, it seems a reversal, a decline to a more violent and dystopic state. There is simply no evidence to suggest the growing presence of guns on the streets, in the malls, and all around makes us safer or more able to repel real violence.
Are guns really a source of safety or they simply an illusion of safety, bringing only more death, pain, suffering, and harm to our communities?
I offer prayers for these most recent martyrs to our idolization of guns.
The people killed in the Kalamazoo massacre (clockwise from top left): Mary Jo Nye, Mary Lou Nye, Barbara Hawthorne, Rich Smith, Tyler Smith, Dorothy Brown.
Lectionary reading: http://www.lectionarypage.net/WeekdaysOfLent/MondaySecondWeek.html
Filed under episcopal, gun violence, lent