Sermon by The Very Rev Chris Yaw, based on John 14
When Is Enough, Enough?
Easter 7, John 14, Memorial Day Weekend
St. David's Episcopal Church, Southfield, MI
The Very Rev. Chris Yaw
As you have no doubt heard by now, this week’s mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas was not the first this year - by any stretch.
The people who tabulate these things - (gun violence archive - dot-org for example) - say it was the 213th mass shooting of the year - a mass shooting meaning more than one person is killed or injured at the hands of one shooter - yes - 213 - and it’s only May. And if this surprises you it’s because the only mass shootings that seem to make headlines now have to involve children or more than 10 victims - because there are just so many.
We have also heard that there are about 1.2 guns for every person in the United States. And because only 1 out of 3 Americans own a gun, it means those who do, own more than one. In fact, we own so many guns we are the world's biggest gun owners. For every 100 people, we have 120 guns. In second place is Canada, for every 100 people they have 34 guns. So we have nearly four times as many guns as the next closest country.
Of course, our problem is not gun ownership.
Our problem is going usership.
And unfortunately Americans excel in that grim category as well.
For every 100,000 people in our country there are 3.4 gun murders.
Nearly six times more than second-place Canada, which has 0.6 murders for every 100,000 people.
As we know, we live in a gun culture.
It is long-lived and it is deeply entrenched.
And it is no surprise that, if you’re like me, you came to church this morning deeply saddened, not just by the images and stories of 4th graders mercilessly gunned down in their classrooms - but by the wretched stalemate our country is in that prevents us from doing anything substantive to address this heinous, embarrassing, and tragic problem.
“How long?” we ask.
“How many lives will have to be lost?”
“How can a country that is well-known for solving impossible problems, be so utterly handcuffed when it comes to this one?”
People of all political persuasions ask this.
And many theories and proposals have been made:
The people on one side propose giving guns to all the teachers - and training them to be their own security force.
Or lowering the bar so that everyone can carry a weapon opening and obviously.
’Too few weapons?!’ goes the reasoning - 'No, we need more!'
Another side says take all the guns away and gun deaths would go down, they argue - pointing out that the second amendment, as it was originally written, has morphed into something that would be totally unrecognizable by the constitution's original authors.
The rhetoric, amplified by social media and partisan silos, has left civil discourse in the dust - and thus reasonable solutions totally out of the picture.
So how do so many people, strongly holding such varied opinions, even begin to have a civilized conversation - especially on a topic that will more than likely necessitate compromise?
I think we get very good advice on where we might begin and what we might do, from this morning’s Gospel.
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We are in John chapter 17 -
It’s a portion of scripture known as ’the high priestly prayer’ — and this is very unique - in that you and I are actually listening in on the words Jesus is praying to the Father just days before he is tortured and killed.
And one of the things that’s really telling about this prayer is how Jesus is praying.
In the precious moments of prayer before his great suffering, Jesus is doing something curious - he’s actually prays for other people.
Were it me, or possibly you, it might be a bit more self-centered - “God get me outta this thing! Make it go away, fast!” - as I would be praying much more for my own well-being than for others.
But that’s just not how Jesus operates -
He’s praying for others.
He’s praying that his followers might do something that’s at the heart of the reconciliation God so wills for the world -
Jesus prays that you and I would love.
He’s praying that his followers might love as God loves - and that means putting others first.
It means thinking about them, respecting them, trying to see things from their perspective
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Not long ago, many people in our parish read the Celeste Headlee book, ’Speaking of Race’ - which gave advice on how to address another seemingly intractable problem - that of racial justice in our world.
And in that book was the story of an encounter Headlee had while awaiting an airport shuttle in a hotel lobby.
Headlee says she was sitting on a couch reading a book on slavery in that hotel lobby when the man next to her asked her why she was reading such a book and whether or not she found it depressing.
Headlee said, ‘Yes, it is disturbing, but sometimes it takes wading through a difficult past to come up with a sensible future.'
'Well, I don't like those kinds of books,' said the man, 'They always paint plantation owners monsters, and not all of them were!'
Headlee paused to gather her thoughts, after all, she is the descendant of a slave and slave owner .. as she decided whether or not to engage.
Deciding she would go forward with the conversation, she said, ‘It sounds as if you don’t think all slave owners were immoral. I am very interested in your comment and would love to continue our discussion, even though it may be hard to talk about these things. So I'm going to get a cup of coffee, can I buy you one?'
After Celeste returned with the coffees the discussion went on for another 40 minutes, during which time Headlee learned that her conversation partner was a descendant from a large plantation owner. Indeed, Headlee had spent most of the conversation listening. Not judging. Not debating. But judiciously sharing her thoughts when asked.
So at the conclusion of their talk, the man remarked, 'I learned a lot here and I promise you I'm going to really think on it.'
What Headlee tried to do was tamp down her opinion, fight back the temptation to be angry or argue, and genuinely consider her conversation partner as someone with value and dignity whose opinions are worthy of respect, and therefore, to be heard.
As we all may suspect, this is no longer the norm in our country.
Two new longitudinal studies, out of Brown and Stanford, looked at 8 first-world countries and found that America leads the way when it comes to polarization. Yes, over the last 40 years our political divide has grown faster and larger than Canada, Britain, Australia, Germany, and 4 other countries.
Many of us remember the day when the average American used to feel positive about their own party and kind of neutral about the opposite path. However today, says the study, people are positive about their own party but downright negative about the opposing party. In 1978 the average gap between Democrat and Republican was 27 points. 40 years later that divergence is north of 46 points. I’ve spoken to some people who doubt that even another world war could not unite us.
While there are all sorts of reasons for this growing divide, from the rise of the internet, immigration rates, and 24-cable TV, the question it raises is: how do we get along? Where does the break in the ice start? How does the trend begin to reverse?
And I would suggest two things.
The first is that all social change begins on the granular level. It’s one person making one decision in one moment of time that gets multiplied over and over to make a difference. We think that our comments don’t matter. We think that our conversations don’t matter. But because Celeste Headlee chose to speak up - one man thought twice - and then a whole bunch others learned a whole lot because this story was in a book that has sold tens of thousands of copies.
Mother Teresa famously said, "If you want to bring happiness to the world, go home and love your family.”
So as we have conversations in the upcoming days and weeks, with family and friends who have differing opinions on the giant task we have of changing our culture into one where mass shootings become the exception and not the rule - let us keep our Christian ideals at the forefront.
We are in this sad and sorrowful state together.
Ironically, and sadly, it seems the only point of agreement we all share - people of every political stripe - is that these senseless mass shootings need to end. But in brokering further agreement, it starts with our commitment to listening - which comes from a Christ-like posture of respecting others: a conviction rooted in God’s love - for even our enemy is to be the focus of our love.
The second thing I’d like to urge you to do is to sign up for an initiative our bishop has helped start.
End Gun Violence Michigan is a new organization that needs our help. Its aim is to pass sensible gun safety measures. Unfortunately, these measures have been stalled in our Michigan state house for years - so End Gun Violence Michigan is looking to put these issues on the ballot - bypassing the legislature - and letting citizens cast their vote about such sensible laws as universal background checks.
You can go online to migunsafety.org to sign up - or you can sign a registration sheet that I have put on the back table in the Narthex and we will register you, for you.
There is an End Gun Violence Zoom meeting coming up Tuesday and a march coming up on June 4th, near Belle Isle, thousands of people will be there - and you can find out all about those events by signing up at migunsafety.org - I’m sure someone can put it in the chat box for those of you on Zoom.
Christians are always called to pray - AND take action.
In light of these recent shootings I think more of us are inclined to now do both.
So let us not grow weary at the pace of change - this is a marathon, not a sprint - but let us grow encouraged by the One who is guiding us and reminding us that things can change - especially when we walk in God’s way - which is the way of love.
Go forth then, in love.
Allow the sorrow and compassion we all feel - to drive and direct us - into the kind of society we want to live in - one that mirrors the Shalom of God.
We built this culture.
We can build another.
Amen.