Like many Americans, I am both heartsick and furious at the news of yet another mass shooting, this time in San Bernardino. Unpreventable tragedies are one thing; this regular slaughter of innocents by automatic gunfire is entirely preventable, which makes it all the more hideous. And the fact that in this case the shooters were of Islamic heritage seems to guarantee more prejudice toward American Muslims and even Sikhs and Hindus. And through this maelstrom comes the lone voice of John the Baptist, echoing Isaiah’s vision cast centuries earlier:
Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth;
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”
All flesh shall see the salvation of God – what a prophecy. What a promise. How can this ever come to pass? Especially if it involves human beings trusting and love one another? We seem to be going in the opposite direction.
I confess I feel little trust for many of my fellow American Christians. How can they – and that’s always a sign of polarization, when we get out the “they’s” – claim to follow Christ while ignoring both his teachings and his example? Where is “love your enemy” and “trust in the Lord alone” in the fear-mongering about refugee families? Where is “turn the other cheek” in wanting to arm whole congregations? How on earth can God bring peace in this country?
I know this: God’s not going to do it without us. As a person of faith, I agree with today's New York Daily News headline reminding us that “God is not fixing this” in response to the hypocritical tweets from lawmakers sending their “thoughts and prayers” to victims of gun violence. As one of my senators tweeted yesterday, “Your ‘thoughts’ should be about steps to take to stop this carnage. Your ‘prayers’ should be for forgiveness if you do nothing – again.” And yet today our Senate refused to pass even a common sense law to prevent people on terror watch lists from buying guns, lest some good ol’ boy be kept waiting two days while a background check went through.
No, God will not bring peace without us. God already sent the Prince of Peace. We are not puppets; God gave us free will, and God gave us the power that made the universe through the Holy Spirit.
So how on earth will we ever realize the promise of all flesh seeing the salvation of God? Neither by ignoring wrong-doing and distorted thinking, nor by demonizing those from whom we differ. I guess we’ll have go long on prayer and humility, and try to have longer, more thoughtful conversations.
Never occurred to me until now that embedded in the word “conversation” is the word “conversion.” Let’s keep talking, to God and to one another.
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