This special edition shares the sermon preached on Feb 20^th, and calls all Episcopalians to specific and immediate action to work to end gun violence, as a way of living out the promises we made at baptism.

My February 20^th sermon (below) was written in response to the Valentine’s Day massacre in Parkland, Florida. I subsequently learned that Bishops Against Gun Violence, a group of 70 Episcopal bishops (of which our bishop, Rob O’Neill, is a member) issued a call for all Episcopalians to contact their legislators “and ask them to support legislation banning assault weapons such as the AR-15, which is the gun used in most of the recent mass shootings in our country; high-capacity magazines; and bump stocks, the equipment used by the killer in the Las Vegas massacre that allows semiautomatic weapons to fire dozens of rounds in seconds.”

The bishops continued: “We understand that mass shootings account for a small percentage of the victims of gun violence; that far more people are killed by handguns than by any kind of rifle; that poverty, misogyny and racism contribute mightily to the violence in our society and that soaring rates of suicide remain a great unaddressed social challenge. And yet, the problem of gun violence is complex, and we must sometimes address it in small pieces if it is not to overwhelm us. So, please, call your members of Congress and insist that your voice be heard above those of the National Rifle Association’s lobbyists.” [1]

Our call to work for justice and peace is rooted in the promises we made at our baptism. We are being asked to put into action the promises we made. You can re-read those promises on page 302 in the Book of Common Prayer. What action in particular can you take? Here are some invitations:

1. PRAY                    

Begin with prayer. In addition to your prayers for the departed—those killed as a result of mass episodes of gun violence—pray for God to guide you and be present with you in whatever social justice action you undertake.

2. CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVE IN THE STATE LEGISLATURE 
Join St John’s “Rapid Response Network” by contacting Kathy Ashworth [kathleen687@comcast.net]. You’ll receive an email whenever a piece of legislation regarding firearms is being considered in the Colorado State Legislature. Contact your elected representative and let them know how you feel about that legislation.

3. BEAR WITNESS IN YOUR COMMUNITY 

On Wednesday March 14^th at 10am, join students and adults across the nation for a 17-minute school walkout to “protest Congress’ inaction to do more than tweet thoughts and prayers in response to the gun violence plaguing our schools and neighborhoods.” To find a participating school close to you, visit:

https://www.actionnetwork.org/event_campaigns/enough-national-school-walkout

4. GO TO DENVER AND TAKE PART IN A NATION-WIDE WITNESS

On Saturday March 24^th from 2-5pm, join students and adults nationwide in a “March for Our Lives” (If you want to read more, visit: https://www.marchforourlives.com/). So far, over 50 marches are being organized around the country. One of those is in Denver. I am inviting parishioners who wish to march as a group to meet at St John’s at 11:00am that day. We’ll make our way to the Boulder bus station (and buy a ticket on one of their Flatiron Flyer buses, which depart every 15 minutes) and travel to Denver’s Union Station and then head to the capitol in Denver. Other Episcopal churches in the diocese are planning to participate, and once in Denver we’ll try to meet up and march with other Colorado Episcopalians.

On the Sundays in March (4^th, 11^th, 18^th) and on the 24^th I’ll have plain Tyvek tie-on race bibs and permanent markers available so you can create a message of your choice to wear at the march instead of lugging a sign. We ask for a $1.00 donation for each bib you take.

I’ll offer updates in the w-Eagle as the date gets closer, so please read and make note of them.

5. BE INFORMED

Before you head to the polls this November, make sure you know whether or not your candidate received money from any special interest lobbying groups that have a history of working to thwart gun violence research and gun law reform. If your candidate did in fact receive money from such a group, inform them you won’t be voting for them, and why.

Debating what causes gun violence is not a substitute for taking action to prevent it. As the bishops said, gun violence is a complex problem, and it will not be solved by any one thing. So it is with humility we carry out the work of our baptismal promises, knowing that the small steps we take in the direction of peace will not by themselves fix the problems that plague our nation, but trusting nonetheless that they will help. As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “If you can’t fly, then run; If you can’t run, then walk; If you can’t walk, then crawl, but by all means keep moving.”

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Here is the text of Sunday’s sermon:

Mark the evangelist is a storyteller of few words. He deploys them sparingly, as though words were expensive to use. Even so, in the very short narrative about baptism and temptation we heard just now, a lot happens. In order to make any sense of it you have to be able to open your heart to the possibility of a world and beings that are unseen. That was not a tall order for the ancient people, because the invisible spirit world was as real and accessible to them as the world of tables and chairs and cheese. It is for us post-Enlightenment people that acknowledging the existence of an unseen world, populated by unseen and sometimes malevolent beings, can be a challenge.

It’s not as though we don’t try to acknowledge it. After this sermon you and I will stand and say the Nicene Creed as we do every Sunday. We will state that we believe in God who makes heaven and earth, and makes all that is, both seen and unseen. It’s easy to look at the snow on Mount Meeker as you drive on the Diagonal and say, “Ah, God made that,” or watch a peach-colored sunset and say, “Ah, God made that too.” It’s far more difficult to acknowledge God’s role, God’s presence, perhaps even God’s inaction, in the unseen world because it is…unseen.

Occasionally we take a stab at acknowledging this unseen world, like when we baptize someone. If you would, please take a prayer book and turn with me to page 302. [2] You’ll notice that in the first three questions the baptismal candidate is asked if he or she will turn away from evil. In the second three questions the candidate is asked if he or she will turn toward Jesus Christ.

You’ll notice that in our prayer book, evil is renounced not once but three times in the first three questions. Satan is called out by name, as are all the spiritual beings and forces that rebel against God. The scope narrows in the second question, as the candidate renounces the evil powers of the world—the culture and the community—in which he or she lives. The third question drills down to the soul of the candidate: Do you renounce whatever evil desires are within you? Do you renounce anything that tries to pull you personally away from the love of God?

How might these three layers of evil manifest in our lives? I can think of no better nor more stark example than the one we were given this past week: the episode of mass gun violence in Florida. That human beings wish to inflict violence and death on other human beings is evidence of the cosmic forces of evil roaring like a runaway train through this world. That special interest groups contribute money to lawmakers in exchange for their favor is evidence of the evil powers at work in our society. That lawmakers consistently offer “thoughts and prayers” instead of constructive legislation is evidence of the evil powers at work in our government. That people like you and me wring our hands and let cynicism infect our thinking and fail to pour our energies into insisting on solutions, is evidence of the evil powers that swirl through the human soul. If we say—even once—“Well, nothing will change” or “Nothing can be done” then we have been infected.

This is dark stuff, and it is only by turning to Christ and following him so closely we step on the hem of his robes that we have a chance. Because if we don’t turn to Christ we help create the hell in which it appears we are living.

It is at this point in the baptism liturgy that the candidate prepares to switch teams, to change sides, in the cosmic battle between good and evil, the cosmic war between eternal love and eternal death. The candidate is saying, “Yes, I believe that Satan is real. I believe that evil is real. I believe there is in fact an ongoing struggle between good and evil, and I’m switching sides in the battle. I want to follow Jesus Christ. As the hymn we sing says it really well, “I want to walk as a child of the light. I want to follow Jesus.” [3] And there is light out there! Friends, if you have not looked on social media or heard the news, please go find and listen to a speech given by Emma Gonzales, [4] a teen who survived the Florida massacre, because she is evidence of the light. I am convinced that in the uprising of the young people of this nation lies the answer that has eluded us adults.

I want to walk as a child of the light. I want to follow Jesus. Sometimes I dream that if enough of us in this world woke every day and said no other prayer than this, then evil would pack up its balls and its bats and pile in its bus and go home, because we would no longer be so easy to beat.

In the meantime, thank God for Jesus. Thank God that Jesus bore our sins—past, present, and those we haven’t thought up yet.  I am so grateful that God’s desire to be one with me far outweighs God’s anger at the good I’ve failed to do, the action I have failed to take, and the evil I have done. God’s only request, it seems, is that I stay awake and pay attention to whose team I seem to be playing for, and that I stand there faithfully with my mitt and my throwing arm, even when it seems like every ball they hit goes into the stands.

Lent offers a beautiful opportunity to do just this—to engage in honest and thorough self-reflection and to ask the questions “whose team am I playing for?” “do my words align with my actions?” and “am I living the promises I made at my baptism?” Don’t let your fear of what you might uncover deter you from undertaking the search. As St Benedict the monastic said: “always we begin again”. Each day, each moment, we begin again.

And friends, we have more of those days and those moments in our lives, unlike the teens and adults killed by gun violence! How are we going to spend them?

Thank God there is no limit to the mercy of God. And thank God that the light of the world cannot be extinguished by the darkness. God of mercy, in this season of Lent, let the words of the hymn be our daily prayer: we want to walk as a child of the light. We want to follow Jesus. Clear sun of righteousness, shine on our path, and show us the way. Show us the way. Show us the way. [5] Amen.

 [1]  http://bishopsagainstgunviolence.org/bishops-united-urges-assault-weapons-ban-prayers-of-lamentation/

 [2] If the reader does not have a Book of Common Prayer handy, refer to bcponline.org, click on “Holy Baptism” in the Table of Contents, and scroll to page 302.

[3] “I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light”, words and music by Kathleen Thomerson

[4]https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/17/us/florida-student-emma-gonzalez-speech/index.html

[5] Ibid, Thomerson