Again, we read about and hear of a mass shooting, this time in California. Evidently, the man who fired the weapons was a 72-year old Asian himself, evidently from Vietnam. We, of course, will not know why he walked into a Lunar New Year celebration and began killing people, ten in all, because after he fled, he killed himself.
We do know that the high capacity, semi-automatic assault pistol was illegal under California law. As the police begin their grim task of identifying the victims and the community begins caring for the survivors, we are faced again with the question of why such weapons are even manufactured. Their only purpose is to kill people.
Outside of war zones and gang rule in certain countries, no other country has such a high homicide rate. In the developed world, we have the highest. And it is the ease of access to guns, the real weapons of mass destruction. And the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Second Amendment jut spurs it on, and on, and on.
Prayer for the Day
Now again, O God, we beg forgiveness for our sins,
Acknowledging our complicity in the violence that consumes us;
More concerned with our comfort than with the gun violence,
We shrug our shoulders and shake our heads in disbelief.
Still we do not call elected officials to task for inaction and cowardice,
As we should even when violence happens somewhere else.
Help us to live the vision of the One who calls us to peace,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Don’t let anyone tell you that bad things happen and then everything goes back to “normal.” … You don’t have to be “everyone.” Stay with the grief. Stay with the anger. Stay troubled by it all. Stay open-hearted to those who grieve. Stay tuned to those who work for change.
- Morgan Harper Nichols, artist
We can choose to be hopeful, try and possibly fail, or not be hopeful, give up, and definitely fail.
- David Hogg, student survivor, Douglas high school shooting
Rise up, O God, and plead your cause;
Remember how the impious scoff at you all day long.
Do not forget the clamor of your foes,
The uproar of your adversaries that does up continually.
Psalm 74: 22-23