Dear APUMC Family, 

Some days, it is hard to know what to say. 

The very soul of our nation is heavy today following yet another politically motivated assassination in the United States of America. On June 14, it was Melissa Anne Hortman. Yesterday, it was Charlie Kirk.  

I will say this: I hate violence. Such murders are a tragedy for these victims and their families. Furthermore, it is a disaster for our country, which appears increasingly unable to bear the weight of our own self-inflicted division and polarization. Those who disagree with someone’s political views ought to be able to despise what they stood for without resorting to the violence that kills. Such atrocious action is a denial of our basic humanity, much less the freedom of speech. 

Today is also September 11. The very utterance of that specific date conjures memories of grief, tremendous sacrifice, and heroism. I can still remember watching the tragedy unfold with Peggy Mann, Laverne Morris, and Lucy Galle. We huddled up together in the church office and watched the events with fear and trembling. I had been serving APUMC for the same amount of time that Rev. Jennifer has now.      

In that day, declares the Lord,
the king and the officials will lose heart,
the priests will be horrified,
and the prophets will be appalled. (Jeremiah 4:9) 

For those of you who remember the variety of feelings and raw emotions of that day, do you also remember what worship attendance was like that following Sunday? At Ashland Place, we had to squeeze folding chairs in every nook and cranny of that sanctuary. Honestly, I cannot recall a single thing that Dr. Wesley H. Wachob said that Sunday morning after 9/11, but I do remember how I felt and what it was like for everyone to gather in holy fear. It was as if worship was our only hope. We came to name our terror, to express our grief, and to confess with selfless abandon our common need for God’s mercy in our lives. 

It was powerful. It was comforting. It was the beginning of our collective healing.  

This Sunday, we will gather again to rehearse the brokenness of our current stories in the presence of Almighty God. In doing so, we will undoubtedly wrestle with the scope of calamity that still confounds us. With help from the psalms, the hymns, and prophet Jeremiah, we will dare to imagine a God who requires justice of the nations, and yet, still looks for the good in each of us. Even in the face of sovereign judgment, we will sit still. With help of the Spirit, we will listen closely to whatever it is that God might have to say to us. Our search is for grace. Our cause is peace. Our prayer is for thy kingdom come. 

Blessed are those who mourn, says Jesus. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for God’s justice and righteousness (Mt. 5). 

What does this mean to us now? That was our discussion at last night’s study of The Beatitudes of Peace by Fr. John Dear.  

In the author’s reflection on the teaching of Jesus, he says, 

Nonviolence…requires remembering every day for the rest of your life who you are–a human being, a peacemaker, a child of the God of peace, a sister or brother of every other living human being on earth, a creature at one with all creatures of creation itself. Once you remember who you are, you realize who everyone else is–your beloved brother or sister…Therefore, you can never hurt or kill anyone…or have anything to do with the culture of violence. 

In our 11:00 service in the sanctuary, we will be celebrating the baptism of James “Barnett” Lyon. At some point in the service, I will turn to his parents and ask “Do you reject the evil forces in this world, in whatever forms they may present themselves?” Then I will turn to the rest of us present and ask, “Will we help them keep the covenant that they have made?”  

In other words, will we help each other remember who we are as humbled, forgiven, and thereby nonviolent brothers and sisters in Christ? 

This is an all-important question, friends.  Otherwise, do we expect this child…or any child…to figure out life on his or her own?  

Will we leave the responsibility of our nurture and formation to Fox News, CNN, or MSNBC? 

Where will you worship this week? 

Once again, each of us remembering who we are (and who we are not) has proven to be a matter of life and death. 

I hope to see you this Sunday.                                                                        

                                                                                   Darren

Image Credit: Jesus Christ and the Apostles, Nicolas Martinez Ortiz (1907)