Sunday Morning, Day Four of General Convention
As
the 10:00 congregation gathered for worship at St. Paul’s in Concord, here in
Salt Lake City I was in the midst of a huge crowd, marching through the streets
and singing together: “Out of the depths I call unto thee, O Lord; consider
well the longing of my soul.”
We
were led by nearly a hundred of our bishops, dressed in their full vestments
(minus mitres!), and we were united in our determination to bring an end to gun
violence. Each member of the New
Hampshire deputation wore a T-shirt bearing the image of Seminarian Jonathan
Daniels (shot and killed 50 years ago while protecting a young black girl) and
the words, “We are indelibly, unspeakably one.”
Our
speakers included Carolyn, the mother of young girl who was killed before her
eyes, in a Utah shopping mall, by a shooter who claimed eight other victims
before he himself was shot and killed.
The mother, shot at point blank range, still carries dozens of shotgun
pellets in her body, leaching lead and causing her chronic, devastating pain
and nausea. But that is nothing compared
to the agony of losing her youngest child.
She has become a crusader for gun control.
Our
speakers reminded us over and over that this is not about denying the right to
own firearms; it is about ensuring that dangerous weapons do not get into the
hands of those who are not safe to own them.
Background checks will ensure that people who are mentally ill, or who have
criminal records or histories of domestic abuse, will not be able to purchase
guns. And lives will be saved. As Carolyn said to us, we don’t know who will
be saved because they will still be alive; they will still be here with
us. We can’t picture the faces of the
people who will not die from gun violence because of improved controls – but
some of those faces may be right in front of our eyes right here, right now.
As
our hearts continued to ache for some of the latest victims, our brothers and
sisters at Emanuel Church in Charleston SC; as we marched, and sang, and prayed
through the early morning heat of Salt Lake City, this assembly of
Episcopalians recommitted ourselves to breaking the unholy trinity of poverty,
racism, and violence, and to draw strength and inspiration from our holy
Trinity of Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier, and to step up our efforts to
bring an end to gun violence.
When
our march came to an end, our Presiding Bishop-Elect, the Rt. Rev. Michael
Curry sent us off with the closing words: “ALL lives matter because we are ALL
God’s children.”
Read more about the experiences of the NH Deputation in Salt Lake on their own blog:
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