To: The United Church of Christ In Florida
Re: Recent Events
July 8, 2016
Dear Church,
Grace and peace to you in a time that, for many, is trending toward despair.
There is so much violence, and it happens with such frequency as to make new words of hope and comfort hard to come by. Think of The Pulse nightclub, Baton Rouge, and St. Paul. Friday morning, we awoke to the news of senseless and targeted killing in Dallas. What will the weekend bring? Every one of these acts elicits our deepest emotions: outrage, disbelief, frustration, anger, fear, indignation, and a temptation to hopelessness. How shall the Church respond?
Norman Fischer offers his paraphrase of the opening verses of Psalm 86:
“Listen to me; answer me, for I am desperate
Protect my soul, for I am steadfast
O You to whom I am ever calling
In whom I am always trusting
Help me now
Be gracious with me
I call out to You all day long
Let my soul rejoice with relief
For I lift it up to You who are good, forgiving
Abundant in kindness to all who call out to You
Listen to my prayer, hear my desperation’s voice.”
How shall the church respond?
Pray this Psalmist’s prayer, yes. And as you lift up your desperation’s voice, let your outrage be turned to action, let your disbelief be turned to knowledge of our current national reality of racism, oppression and yes, a gun culture that stokes such violence on all sides; let your anger and indignation turn to hopeful presence for our African-American neighbors, for those devoted to law enforcement on a daily basis, and for people of goodwill everywhere.
Pray the Psalmist’s prayer, and as you lift up your desperations’ voice let hopelessness be turned to prophetic witness to the God who declares justice, who demands equality, who cries in sadness at our folly, and who says there can be no peace until there is peace for all people.
How shall the church respond? The same Psalm praises God saying, “You have saved my soul from the deep.” The church’s response must come in acts of life-saving that lifts our communities out of senseless violence and builds a new day even while lamenting this day with a sorrow that is beyond words. Thank you for being the United Church of Christ in your community.
Be at peace, and be in touch, won’t you.
John Vertigan,
Conference Minister