[Washington National Cathedral] The Very Rev. Gary Hall, dean of Washington Nattional Cathedral, has released a statement in response to the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. This Sunday, December 16, 2012, the dean will preach at the 8:45 and 11:15 am services of Holy Eucharist, calling on the nation to address gun violence.
“The horrific shooting of children and adults in Newtown, Connecticut, is a tragedy that elicits both our grief and our moral outrage on behalf of the victims and their families,” said Dean Hall. “In a political climate unwilling to address the realities of gun violence in America, a wide range of faith traditions, including the Episcopal Church, has strongly advocated gun control for several decades.
“Washington National Cathedral pledges to pray for the victims, their families, the assailant, and the survivors. And we pledge to work with our national leaders to enact more effective gun control measures. As a worshiping community we invite all who grieve this shooting join us in prayer, worship, and action in the days ahead.”
“Hope springs eternal … ” and it is sent forth when tragedy comes calling. Hope is useful, as it hints that “something good can be done about something bad.” Hope is endorsed by some religious systems, and this infers there is a certain power that can manifest itself to make things right again. We need hope most of all when we and those around us feel hopeless. We also want to partner hope with control. So we are hearing everywhere ‘gun control.’ A sad irony is that we can have gun control, ammunition control, knife control, and bomb control, but it is ‘people control,’ so to speak , which ought to be the medium to contain the many weapons we aim at one another. No, I don’t mean a political, or totalitarian control, but instilling a union of morals and ethics in our minds and souls so we might make useful implements from the iron and steel of tragedies. Sadly, killing has been here always. It has been the traveling companion of the survival instinct from those days when man began to perceive he had to do something himself to survive. Hope doesn’t necessarily bring relief; it may be part of a journey toward understanding or a solution. We invoke the power of philosophy to help us get through bitter events. But … life is, in a way, absolute, and we can do nothing more than recognize an episode, and say ‘it is what it is.’ But, we don’t sit on that for long; we turn again to hope. Many of us use prayer to bring forth hope. And for that reason, we are praying for those folks in that little Connecticut town. We ask for help for the helpless and hope for the hopeless.
Yes, Prayer and more…we must demand more from our lawmakers…now is the time for the President, Congress, and People to act and be bold…Gun Control Now…
You are preaching to the choir. We need to confront the NRA and pro-gun legislators about restrictions on gun ownership.