Shoved by Grace

Let me say at the outset - I mourn for those lost and injured in the Las Vegas shooting on Sunday. I mourn for those targeted in the daily shootings that occur in this country. I cannot minimize or take away the suffering of the victims or their families. But my empathy for the victims of gun violence has led me to, once again, take a look at our society that permits and, yes, encourages these tragedies to happen over and over again. Let me be quite clear and say it quite loudly, in the spirit of the prophets of old - ya got trouble, folks, right here in River City, trouble with a capital I... (OK my parody of old musicals falls flat here)...and that stands for Idolatry. Whether it is the flag or the national anthem or 2nd Amendment or guns themselves, our nation seems to have chosen to revere these "things" over our devotion to God, the Bible, or simple moral decency. In their book, The Altars Where We Worship , Juan Floyd-Thomas, et al., write, "Though we claim to se...

As I was watching Morning Joe today, a breaking report interrupted the ongoing analysis of the Trump administration and the Russians. Another tragic shooting, just one of many that happen every day in America. But this one made the headlines because members of Congress were intended targets and among the victims. On a baseball field in the middle of a neighborhood in suburban Alexandria, VA, a lone gunman unleashed on a group of Republican congressmen and their staffs as they practiced for a traditional friendly baseball game against the Democrats. One Congressman was among the wounded. The shooter was killed by Capitol police. So familiar. Every time a mass shooting makes the news, we all grieve. Again and again. There is a lot of hand-wringing and yet, no changes are ever regarding one of the leading causes of the problem - the unrestricted accessibility to guns and ammunition in the US. I realize that there are many underlying reasons for gun violence - mental illness, poverty,...