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From Associate Pastor Esther Hethcox
Friends,
We come to this week holding the weight of the world. As we encounter the many horrors in the news of our country and world, we experience these with the despair and empathy that accompanies a human existence. As Christians, we experience these on a heightened level—because we know deep in our being that this is not the world God wants for us, nor is any of this in line with our gospel discipleship.
This weekend’s shooting at a political rally—where one life was lost, two were critically wounded, and a candidate for president was injured—is among the horrors we lament. Regardless of the differences of beliefs and views, we know that when violence is done to some of us, violence is done to all of us.
Social media will have us believe otherwise—I have seen content circulating on Facebook and Tik Tok which holds words of justification for violence and some even vocalizing a wish for a much different outcome. My heart hurts as I see violence so normalized for many. Social activist Naomi Kline reminds us of what should matter most to us in all days, but especially in most recent days. Kline writes, "Side with the child over the gun every single time, no matter whose gun and no matter whose child.”
In this day, we must choose the person over the gun, no matter whose gun and no matter the person.
Today, we mourn for those who hold the mental physical wounds from this shooting.
Today, we mourn the thousands of American lives (9,212) lost to gun violence in the year 2024.
Today, we mourn the murder of over 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza.
Today, we mourn the lives shattered and lost in the genocidal crises in the Congo, Yemen, Sudan, Ethiopia and many, many more.
And today, we hold firmly to the hope we utter every week in worship: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
May our words, actions, prayers and hopes in the coming days reflect the peaceable kingdom Isaiah prophesied so long ago;
The wolf shall live with the lamb;
the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
the calf and the lion will feed together,
and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11: 6-9)
In hope,
Pastor Esther
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