A Response to Gun Violence in Orlando

A message from Thia Reggio, our Synod Moderator: 

Suddenly, there is death in the midst of life. Again. There is pain, shock, grief, too much familiarity, and too little hope of change. Then come the labels, the meaning making, attempts to understand, but more than that, attempts to create distance between ourselves and the shooters, between ourselves and the dead. Some will blame the victims, some will demonize and dehumanize the killers. The truth is that human beings died and human beings did the killing. What is needed to bring peace is not another story that explains away our own connection and lays blame far from our doors. What is needed is self-reflection followed by clear action from within our own shared humanity. Whatever we have been doing is not working. Whatever side of the conversation you have been on, it is in the freshness of this new wound that there may be a new opening to let God's voice into it. For just one moment, listen for a new word because no one is immune to violence in a world that greets news like last night's shooting with the words, "Not again." Until we commit ourselves to making those words a reality, we cannot say we have done enough.