Gentle people,
I write this as I emotionally prepare to attend a community vigil at the Foster City Rec Center Gazebo to honor the victims and take action to end gun violence on Wednesday evening. As we are still reeling from the Buffalo mass shooting, we have heard of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Nineteen children and two adults were killed and another seventeen were wounded.
We have been told that there have been twenty-seven school mass shootings since the beginning of the year; there have been two-hundred fourteen reported mass shootings according to the Gun Violence Archive. This is insanity. Where is the moral and political will to enact sensible gun control? Where is God in all of this?
As we approach Ascension Sunday, we might think of God above us and at a distance. I like to think of God over us, God enveloping us, God with us, God within us. God is not in the distance but here, crying with us, calling and moving through us to do the necessary work to put an end to this senseless carnage. Don’t look up. Look within.
What are you willing to do toward ending gun violence?
I invite you to the check-in and prayer tonight (link below). This is an opportunity to be with each other and hold each other as we navigate our emotions around this issue and our day-to-day lives.
I also look forward to being with you, be it in person or Zoom, on Sunday at 10 am.
Stay strong,
Rev. Michael Cronin
