Love One Another

On Sunday, just a few days after the latest horrific outburst of violence in Charleston SC, I made these comments.

You know when something gets completely out of whack, like your DVR or your thermostat, or your cell phone, you can hit the reset button and everything goes back to “normal.” The reset button wipes out errors and gives you a fresh new start. We need to activate the reset button; we need to reframe; we need a start over because racism, and sexism, and violence continues to traumatize us. We’re out of whack as a nation. We cannot, especially as people of faith, continue to witness events like Charleston or Sandy Hook or Aurora CO and act as if they were somehow unconnected to us.

Violence hurts us too. If you no longer feel the pain of the families who’ve lost loved ones or the suffering of the refugees in the Middle East or Africa or Malaysia, it’s because all that pain has made us numb. But just because we’re numb to pain does not mean it cannot still hurt us. The psychic toll of violence makes all of us its post trauma victims.

I also quoted from a Facebook post by the mother of a little girl who had been killed at Sandy Hook elementary school. Nelba Marquez-Greene, whose daughter Ana Grace was killed along with other first grade classmates wrote on behalf of the families who lost loved ones in Charleston SC. She said:

It’s time for every American to decide which side of history they will be on. It’s time for communities of faith to take a stand against gun violence. Be courageous. Be strong. Let your voice be heard. We cannot afford to wait for our leaders in Washington to lead courageously. Many have refused. If you were waiting for a hero, look in the mirror. The time is now.

As a leader of a community of faith I agree that the time to take a stand is now. We know what we’re called to be and do. Jesus entrusted the ministry he began on this earth to the church, to us. And while there may be dubious confusion about what motivated the Charleston gunman, there is no doubt about what Jesus intends for his followers: “I give you a new commandment,” he said, “that you love one another.” And by saying “when you do this for the least of these who are my brothers and sisters, you do this for me,” Jesus left no doubt that God’s love includes all people.

We’re called by Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit to be the church. To make a difference; to be courageous; to be strong; to use our voice so that all people may know the saving and transforming love of Jesus Christ. The time is now! So that all the people may live, let it be so.

~Harrell