Gun Violence.

It is almost as if we have become immune to it.

It really feels like we have become inoculated from its lasting and damning effects.

It’s like life has given a prescription of a special kind of medicine, and we are told to take three pills in the morning, one in the afternoon, and another at night if we watch the news—two if is breaking news.

You know we couldn’t even get out worship last Sunday evening—I couldn’t even make it
the short drive down the street to my home on Sunday night without being arrested by what I was hearing streamed into my car from satellites orbiting the earth—-

Breaking News—There has been a mass shooting in California, northern California in the sleepy city of Gilroy at the Garlic Festival. We do not have all the details but we know that the blood of sixteen people has been thrown the ground. Four Dead, this includes the gunman.

Our hearts cry out Mercy

Our fists rise to call for Justice

Our mind moves, we take the pills life has told us to pop.

And our week goes on just like normal until we are interrupted again….

Breaking News—There has been another mass shooting, this time in border community of El Paso Texas at a Wal-Mart at 10 o’clock in the morning. We do not have all the details but we know that the blood of 46 people has been cast the ground—just six days later. The gunman has been apprehended, but not before 20 people were killed making yesterday’s mass shooting the deadliest shoot of 2019—as if some award is to be given to 21 year old young white man who wanted the “maximum Mexican causalities possible.”

And we could not rise to for worship this past Sunday without being bombarded with another interruption…

Breaking News—blood of the innocent continues to pour in the streets of American cities-this time Dayton Ohio. Twenty-seven individuals wounded and at nine other dead.

George P. Bush, the great-grandson and George Hebert Walker Bush coined the term the connects so many of these mass killings: “white terrorism.”

Make no mistake about it the presidential rhetoric tweeting at odd hours of the night and morning from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is not without responsibility for the racial animus in this country.

Nor can the National Rifle Association or American political leaders who continually fail to act, function as if they are without blood—the life of the innocent staining scarlet their hands.

Its like we have become immune to it.

It really feels like we have become inoculated from damning effects.

Because we cry and shout today because we know its wrong, but move on with our lives into the week that is before us—unless of course it is …

Our mother Our church member

Our father Our co-worker

Our brother Our friend

Our sister Our cousin

that has been taken—because now the regenerative power of the blood is no more.

There is simply just no way this morning that we can talk about the sanctifying blood of Jesus, without the talking about the sacrilegious spilling of blood in American city streets today and yesterday at the hands of white terrorists and the violent.

Responding to Tragedy

In the wake of murderous acts in Pittsburgh, the bombing in the Philippines, the deadly terror in Christchurch, black churches set ablaze in Louisiana, the bombing in Sri Lanka — our beloved city now finds its name among the growing list of places where religious houses of worship were targeted by those who harbor hate.

As people of faith, goodwill and conscience, we must boldly speak out against these egregious and despicable acts targeting people of faith. We must boldly name these acts as evil, shameful and intolerable in our community, nation and world. And we must assure all, without regard to their religious beliefs, that no one should ever fear practicing and deepen their faith in their houses of worship. We must work in every way to advance and sustain communities of safety, inclusion, love and justice for all people.

We cannot remain silent in the face of these immoral acts.

We cannot sit still in silence and inaction.

We must resist.

We must fight, and we must pray.

Martin Niemoller, a Lutheran pastor well-known for his resistance to anti-Semitism in the 1930s, reminds us all of how important it is to speak our truths in these perilous times. His words, etched in stone on memorials throughout the world, speak to us today. As we extend our thoughts and prayers to our sisters and brothers directly impacted by anti-Semitic hate in Poway and all who have been emotionally and spiritually wounded, let us vow to not never stay silent in the face of hatred, oppression, violence, and values that erode our liberation and recommit ourselves to advance love, shalom and justicia in every part of our world.

A reprint of this essay appeared in the San Diego Union Tribune on Sunday, May 5, 2019.

Faith and Science

Harriett Martineau once said,

We do not believe in immortality because we can prove it, but we try to prove it because we cannot help believing it.

To be certain, there are things in science that we do not believe because we can prove them, yet there is an endless pursuit to keep trying to prove them because we cannot stop believing in them. This week with the emergence of the first-ever image of a black hole–our global scientific community brought forward “proof,” from over 55 million light years away, of a belief they have been trusting since Einstein first articulated it in 1915. That image, what scientists called the most mysterious object in the universe, of deep darkness surrounded by a ring of light made possible by dust caught by flames, excited the global scientific world and provoked my faith. I’ve reconciled in some ways that my faith in God is a bit like their years of research and study—a relentless pursuit, driven not by ability to provide proof but by deep belief. This “faith” solidifies my hope and encourages me to keep trying, especially when others doubt, and perhaps one day if I keep at it the universe will open up a horizon in a unique way and offer the “proof” that is sorely needed.

‘Zekiel saw de wheel
Way up in de middle of de air
‘Zekiel saw de wheel
Way in de middle of de air
De big wheel run by faith
Little wheel run by de grace of God
Wheel in a wheel
Way up in de middle of de air

Wheel, oh, wheel
Wheel in de middle of a wheel

—-

Why Jazz?

Dr. Willie James Jennings, a Systematic Theologian and Africana Studies professor at Yale University Divinity School, believes that the music of jazz inspires the faithful to see and experience the incarnation of God. In an article simply entitled “Seeing God in Jazz” Professor Jennings writes about the power of jazz and the lessons the church should learn from the way the music comes together and from the musicians who give it life. He contends,

“churches could learn much from reflecting on a jazz band. Here are a group of people who work very hard listening, yet give up nothing of themselves in that process, but in fact only gain a true sense of themselves in the common task of making music, producing sound that makes a central statement that exists only through the constitutive performances of each musician…Musicians live and play in tight quarters, which is not only a matter of the given but also a matter of choice. They need closeness to hear. Would that Christians could grasp this basic truth of our witness: We don’t simply need each other, we need to be close together in order to truly hear the words we should be saying to the world and, equally important, to hear more clearly the voice of the world in its pain, suffering and longing.”

In recognition of Jazz Appreciation Month, our diverse and faithful Jazz Vespers congregation will honor and celebrate local jazz personalities who have contributed historic and cultural significance to the local jazz community in San Diego and throughout the world at our weekly 5PM worship service. Our honorees for the month are Mr. John Phillips of 88.3FM on Sunday, April 7th; acclaimed jazz harpist Mariea Antoinette on Palm Sunday, April 14; and Mr. Joshua White on Easter Sunday, April 21.

Gun Violence.

Responding to Tragedy

Faith and Science

Why Jazz?

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