Dear People of Christ Church,
This week, I find that I'm finally ready for some perspective.
I wrote last Thursday in this space about how I wasn't; all I wanted to do was sit in my sadness for a moment. Everything was so unsettled then, obsessively clicking "refresh" on bogus CNN stories about how a suspect had (not, it turned out) been arrested. My soul got a little healing preaching psalm 23 last Sunday and celebrating Carlos and Elena's baptisms, so it feels a little safer to come up for air. Now that I'm not just feeling hurt, I can take a look around me and see what's there.
So-what's there?
Hurt, yes, still. But also more sad than angry. Learning more about the Tsarnaev brothers, it seems that they have more in common with Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, the Columbine shooters, than they do with some international or domestic terror network. I spent the first three days of this week at our annual clergy conference for the diocesan (our is the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, which includes east of Route 495 and the Cape)-most of the priests and some of the deacons, gathered for some learning and working time together. It was striking to hear the reactions of the clergy from the Cambridge churches-kids at their parishes attend Cambridge Rindge and Latin, and knew the suspects, or at least the environment they grew up in; they knew how normal life seemed, until it wasn't. There's always a tendency to "other" those who experience violence; we hastily explain to ourselves how it simply couldn't have happened to us. When random violence strikes, we're forced to realize that it could.
Part of yesterday's presentation was also a more in depth conversation about the B Peace for Jorge endeavor we've been invited into. Next Tuesday we wrap up our conversation on The Rich and the Rest of Us, and then on May 12 there is the Mother's Day walk, which feels like it has all the more resonance. Jorge Fuentes was killed while standing on a porch across the street from his house. His mother heard the shots while she was cooking dinner. Jorge was the only one hurt; he had just pushed someone out of the way. We saw a segment from Fox 25's "Unsolved" murder segment about him (you can see it here)
where we meet his mother showing off his ROTC uniform; he wanted to join the Marines.
From Jorge's death on September 10, 2012, to the death of Martin Richard on April 15, whatever appears to motivate violence, it's still that-violence. We can disagree on all the details about how to respond on a political level. Some will want to outlaw handguns (me-don't get me started on Congress last week), others will want to be sure that every man and woman has one concealed in their jacket. I will grieve the use of torture by our government in the aftermath of 9/11, others will declare that that is the only reason another massive-scale attack didn't happen. In Christian community, we bring our whole selves to the table, and we don't always agree as we meet one another there. Still, wherever we place ourselves around the table, the call to the compassion of Christ pursues us all. Violence wins a second time if we allow our opinions about it to drive us away from one another. If God can raise a crucified Christ, surely God can handle us.
Blessings to all of you, wherever you find yourself on this journey,
Sara+
PS There is more going on with the B Peace effort! Let Rev. Sara know if you'd like to be part of deanery efforts at responding to violence in our community.
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