“If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission. What then is my reward? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel. For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.”      1 Corinthians 9:16-23

School Shooting Number 17:

“Police are investigating after a gunshot was fired in a Bronx school Thursday. It happened Metropolitan High School in the Longwood section around 3 p.m. Police responded to the call at 3:20 p.m. They found a bullet hole in the floor of a classroom inside the school. A 17-year-old is in custody, officials said. He is being questioned at the 41st Precinct. No injuries were reported.
The NYC Department of Education issued this statement about the shooting: “Students and staff are safe and this troubling incident is being investigated. We are treating this with the utmost seriousness and are working with the NYPD to ensure swift follow-up action is taken.” Sources say the student let off one shot, and no one was hurt. (Teen In Custody After Shot Fired Inside Bronx High School, Feb. 8, 2018, Eyewitness News, channel 7 ABC)

It is apparent to me, that many of the school shootings, and of course other shootings as well, it is apparent that broken relationships are often at the heart of shootings. A gun might be brought into school because someone feels threatened due to incessant bullying; someone feels jilted by a boy or girlfriend and wants to express their anger; or someone is trying to establish their authority within a group.

It’s all about relationships. I have a lot of people who stop by the church who we might refer to as “the disinherited”, “the marginalized”. Many of these people will stop by the church to ask for financial assistance or food, but they will not come on Sunday because they do not feel welcome or accepted. And yet we talk, and talk, and talk in the church about how we can be more welcoming to people from our community, especially the marginalized. Just because our doors are open on Sunday does not mean people will come on in. Until we are willing to open our doors and go out into the community to engage people and build relationships with them, then the doors to the church are not really open. The same is true within our society, and our communities. If we want people to feel more welcome, to feel less disenfranchised, to feel less desperate, we need to meet people where they are at and learn their stories. Then we might be able to share ours, and find how similar we really are.

Pastor Dave

“Israel sent Judah ahead to Joseph to lead the way before him into Goshen. When they came to the land of Goshen, Joseph made ready his chariot and went up to meet his father Israel in Goshen. He presented himself to him, fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while. Israel said to Joseph, “I can die now, having seen for myself that you are still alive.” Genesis 46:28-30

School Shooting Number 16:

Nobody was injured Monday afternoon when a student at the Harmony Learning Center fired a school liaison officer’s gun, Maplewood police say. The officer was sitting on a bench talking with some students about 1:45 p.m., when a third-grader pressed the trigger of the officer’s holstered weapon, according to a news release issued by the Maplewood Police Department. The gun discharged through the bottom of the holster and a bullet struck the floor, the news release said. The officer, who was unaware that the child was touching his gun, was wearing a department-approved, Level 3 security holster, the news release said. The holster is equipped with a trigger guard designed to prevent a gun from being fired while in it.

The department is reviewing this holster model and the circumstances surrounding the incident. A spokesperson for the North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale school district did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Harmony Learning Center, located at 1961 E. County Road C, serves special education students in grades K-12. (Third Grader Pulls Trigger on Maplewood Cop’s Gun, Firing a Shot, by Nick Woltman, Feb. 5, 2018, twincities.com)

Seeing is believing. Seeing is believing. Believing is discerning. Believing is discerning. When we heard the statistic earlier this month that there were 18 school shootings in America since the beginning of the year, we all cringed, shaking our heads and thinking “How could this happen?” What we have come to understand is that while any statistic may be announced across the country, and sound authoritative, that does not necessarily mean it is true. What one person calls a “school shooting” is another person’s accidental discharge of a firearm in the vicinity of a school. And yet, if you have been paying attention, there have been a number of accidental discharges of firearms at schools – or in school parking lots. It may still take away some of the pain of the statistic, yet, why do so many of our youth have easy access to guns? It appears to be easier for a child to get a gun than it is to get their driver’s license.

Since the most recent school shooting, the conversation about who can purchase and when they can purchase a gun has continued. It is a conversation we have to have without anyone immediately falling into a defensive position. We must all put away our “agendas” – when we have this kind of life and death conversation. If we do not, we will never be able to have an honest, open, compassionate conversation. Our politicians, well many have been influenced too much, rightly or wrongly, by the money and the “agenda” of the NRA. And yet, we must bring them, and the representatives of the NRA into the conversation – we must look each other in the eye, see them as a child of G-d, and try to find the most compassionate, reasoned, and beneficial way forward.

I believe that if we can see one another, then we can discern a mutual reason to exist and to be heard. But if we shut our eyes and our ears to the others in our lives, especially those who disagree with us, then there will be no way forward – only the continual sinking into the abyss.

Pastor Dave