| “Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:25-26). |
| Dear Friends, These are the final words in the final part of Jesus’ prayer which he voices at the final meal with his disciples in John’s Gospel. So much finality. And we are coming to the end of Eastertide, well past joyful first day of Resurrection (approaching 7 weeks in), the celebration of God’s defeat over death and pain. And yet, this coming Sunday’s Gospel selection takes us back to the night that precedes Jesus’ arrest and subsequent path to the Cross. It takes us back to a night characterized by fear, uncertainty, betrayal, insecurity, and quarreling. It seems we eerily find ourselves waking this morning from a night possessed by the same set of characteristics. We are less than 24-hours from a rising death toll of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders, innocent children and adults massacred, victims of a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. And while this shooting was the largest violent event of the day, it was by no means the only one in the country that day. We may do very well to pray. To cry out. To implore God’s love and strength and compassion to surround those in deep mourning, deep shock, deep pain. And we must act. First, let’s pause and be prayed for by Jesus. It was prayer that Jesus left for his disciples that final night. The prayer Jesus left ringing in the ears of his disciples on that conflicted night is meant for us too: “I made your name known to them, and I will make it known….” Let the final words of this prayer, “…the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them” fall on our open ears and settle onto our open hearts.” We need Jesus’ prayer as much today as the disciples did. Jesus’ prayer of love is about God’s first (and final) intention: the inherent unity and oneness with God and with one another. Against the backdrop of this inherent unity and oneness with God, can we now notice how far we are from what God desires for us? The prayer has the power to clarify and give us courage to make different choices about how we relate to one another. It can open us to see that assault weapons and the love affair this country has with guns and weaponry is an idol, reorienting and replacing our love of God to love of gun. And love of gun in no way aligns with God’s dream for us as indwellers of God’s love: “… the love which you have loved me may be in them and I in them.” May we open ourselves to be prayed over and so be empowered to act with courage to be different and to turn and choose the love of God over the love of gun. May we step ever closer to God’s dream for us. In Peace, Rev. Dina The following litany is four years old. It has been updated. It will again be updated. May one day the updating no longer be needed. Litany in the Wake of a Mass Shooting | Bishops United Against Gun Violence (bishopsagainstgunviolence.org) |