On Friday evening, I gave a little coaching to the readers for Saturday's wedding of Kristen Gagnon and Dave Herman. Because we tend to have our own laypeople do lector (reader) training, I don't have occasion very often to coach readers. A wedding is the one regular exception.
And the counsel I give the readers is always simple: Take your time.
What I tell them is that, if they'll take their time, if they'll not hurry, then most everything else will take care of itself, most everything else will fall into place.
Yesterday, Wallace+ shared his experience at a gun show this past August during a briefing at the Virginia General Assembly about legislation to close the gun show loophole. He spoke along with Del. Jennifer McClellan, sponsor of the bill, and Lori Haas, whose daughter survived the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting. Also supporting the measure are Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones and Police Chief Bryan Norwood.
"My experience at a gun show, and my faith in the Prince of Peace, compels me to pray for and work for an end to the "No questions asked" gun sales on the outskirts of our city. We can do better than the status quo of the any gun/any place/any time agenda...
For the sake of the Prince of Peace, and for the sake of our fellow citizens, we must no longer sit on the sidelines and wait for more Virginians to die; for more guns purchased in Virginia to find their way trafficked to other states where they are used to kill and maim our brothers and our sisters.
We know better. Our elected officials, who represent us, know better. So let's act like it and let our better angels prevail. May God give our lawmakers the courage and good judgment to do the right thing and close the Gun Show Loophole."
Click on "read more" for the full text of his remarks.
"Dear God, we thank you for this gathering, this day, in this place, on the grounds of our Capitol: to remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and all those who have been injured by or lost their lives to gun violence. We remember their families as well; and all who still grieve and heal; as we pray for comfort, for relief, and for hope.
We also pray, Lord, that you would deepen and renew in us our commitment to bringing about a change in Virginia and, in turn, in America. May you give us the courage, and strength, and wisdom we need to persevere, and may you raise up others to join us. Lead us on, dear God, and bless our work, until we are delivered from the plague of gun violence that has lain over our land for so long, for far too long.
With hope, in faith, and with determination, we pray, in the name of God, Amen."
Part of the prayer offered by Wallace+ and other coverage from Monday is included in this Richmond Times-Dispatch video by Chris young. Vigil coverage begins one minute into the video.
"Let us pray on this anniversary that his service and sacrifice will be redeemed in the Holy Land and that all of us, wherever we live, whatever our capacity, will do our part to build a world where cooperation triumphs over conflict. Rabin’s spirit continues to light the path, but we must all decide to take it."
"The last of the human freedoms is to choose one's attitude."
He then considers the choice by Virginia Tech graduate Colin Goddard "not to allow himself to be defined simply as a victim of gunman Seung-Hui Cho":
"Like Frankl, Colin Goddard knows he is free to choose: free to choose his attitude. And so he chooses. And so he is working on a documentary; and so he appeared on Oprah this week (the "national audience" referred to above). He is free to choose, to choose his attitude. And he refuses to be defined simply as a victim."
A trailer for Living for 32, the documentary mentioned above, is below. This film is a semi-finalist for an Oscar in 2011 in the category "Best Documentary Short."
This Saturday, had he lived, John Lennon would be 70. I commend to you last night's CBS Evening News segment, which tells of how his two wives and his two sons have found peace together, something that, no doubt, would greatly please him.
A recent Michael Paul Williams column tells about a peace festival here in Richmond this coming Sunday. Please consider going, for the sake of peace, and for the sake of humanity's shared future.
Meanwhile, let's also all pray for the peace talks underway in Israel. May God give all involved courage, imagination, and humility; and may there be peace in our time.
Video: "Mike's Take" on Intolerance
The recent anti-Muslim bigotry is a step in the wrong direction and is only producing more hate.
As faith leaders from around Richmond, and across traditions, gathered at Richmond's Islamic Center yesterday, I was struck by the spirit in the room. It reminded me of the spirit in the crowd when a contingent of St. Paul's folks joined the gathering at VCU, back during Lent, to protest the Attorney General's legal opinion barring Virginia's colleges and universities from protecting gay and lesbian people from discrimination. Likewise it reminded me of the spirit in the air about a week earlier in Lent when I, along with a number of St. Paul's clergy and our Lenten Preacher at the time, joined a rally for inclusive communities at VCU. And, still one more occasion, the spirit in the air when the St. Paul's clergy and community joined a witness for peace at Richmond's Holocaust Museum, when we faced off with the Westboro Baptist Church and their message of hate.
There is, indeed, an unmistakable joy and an unmistakable peace that come when you stand up for justice, when you stand up for compassion, when you stand up for humanity.
Thanks be to God.
Amen, amen.
To read more about yesterday's gathering at Richmond's Islamic Center, please go to the Richmond Times Dispatch.
In today's Word from Grace Street, Wallace+ describes his recent visit to a gun show on the outskirts of Richmond and how he came across the question "What would Jesus shoot?":
We went directly from church. And, I must say, I'm not sure I've ever experienced a more jarring juxtaposition with worship. I went in company with a fellow Richmond pastor, as well as with two
people whose respective children were victims in the 2007 Virginia Tech
shootings. (Both children survived.) One of those parents bought me the t-shirt (pictured) at the gun
show...
The back of the shirt proclaims that Jesus would shoot with an AR-15. Wallace+ continues:
And, in case you were wondering further: "AR-15" stands for "ArmaLite
Model 15," an assault rifle capable of firing up to 800 rounds per
minute; and accurate at up to 600 yards.
And, of course, this Christmas, tonight, and tomorrow, new memories are being made; a Carol sung, pure and exquisite; an old friend; warm, endearing words exchanged; a first Christmas for a new grandbaby; a candle lit, a face aglow, eyes agleam.
More than fifty times, in his published writings, Barth refers to the Grunewald image; and, indeed, usually, it is precisely in reference to John, and John’s relation to the figure of Christ; as he points.
Barth (and Grunewald before him) understood John’s sole purpose to be to serve as a pointer to Christ, a reference to Christ, a witness to Christ.
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