Something needs to be done. Mass shootings like this are not normal and we know it. I say this as someone who understands the 2nd Amendment, married to a man who fully believes in the right and exercises gun safety. But most of this has nothing to do with the Constitution. And something needs to be done.
I don’t know what, which makes it difficult to express my thoughts on this subject. But I do think we should be laying down our lives for fellow human beings, not watching fellow human beings lose their lives so we can demand our rights. And certainly not – when presented with a clear choice – putting man’s law ahead of God’s.
And inspired by this article, I’m particularly frustrated with what every thoughtful person must intuitively know: there has to be some middle ground on which we are not even trying to walk together. And, meanwhile, people are dying.
So where do we go with this? Let’s start with some fabulous questions from this tweet:
- Who has to give up what in order to change?
- What are this person’s/community’s competing loyalties complicating this surrender?
- How will you come alongside the person/community you hope to change?
I love this because there’s something here for everyone. If you want change, what are you going to do to come alongside a group requiring change? If I know I’m the one who needs to shift, I get to be honest about what makes that difficult. What will I have to die to? No one is off the hook here. Communal responsibility. What will help us move forward if we hope to make actual legislative and actual heart change.
Gun reform laws matter. We know this and can seek to work together so this doesn’t continue. Otherwise there will be blood on our hands.
As Dr. King said, “It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that’s pretty important.”
And, believers? Let’s ask His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Pray. Pray against the idol of nationalism, toxic masculinity, weapons as idols and self love over agape love. Pray against corporate injustice and greed that reveres a bottom line over human lives. No matter how long it’s been an issue, no matter how long it may take to turn a giant ship around, we pray.
Because here’s what I know: like I told my husband last night, if our boys were carried out bleeding on a stretcher…or some of my special needs kiddos were shot in their wheelchairs…or the 3 and 4 year old babies I currently help with were being buried in tiny caskets this weekend…I wouldn’t care one bit how long it would take to turn this ship around. I would be screaming at the top of my lungs we’re about to hit an iceberg and doing whatever it took to fix it.
This is the reality of fellow image bearers this very day in our country. Make it matter that much to us, too, Jesus.
Because to do nothing in the face of such evil is to be complicit with it.
I agree that there is an unsought middle ground. I want to say that it will someday be found on this side of heaven, and yet, the world is fallen. We musn’t throw up our hands and be apathetic nor should we run blazing into a fight. Balance is something that citizens are famously not good at. Some joy in the community’s protection while other joy seeing it burn. Ultimately, my opinion is that the one thing that will fix it is not legislation. The one and only thing that will fix it is Jesus Christ. He alone has the power to move hearts in unseen ways and move them meaningfully and forever. I too wrestle with the idea of seeing the corpses of my children in caskets (or them seeing me in mine as I am a public school teacher) and my one and only comfort and hope is in Jesus Christ. That he might be living and working actively in every heart, of every person, everywhere that my children ever go. If that happened their world would be safer, whether guns were apart of it or not.
This was a great reminder for me, Summer. I love your heart.