Dear Saints in Santa Fe, and other far-off places—
Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ, who took a little girl by the hand and raised her up.
“I’m Harry, this is Jenny, how we can help?”
This is how I got started in gun violence prevention. It was a Friday in 2010 when we attended a weekly luncheon of the City Club of Cleveland where Conceal Carry was being debated, a hot topic in Ohio back then. We sat in the two remaining seats at a table in the back.
Jenny quickly sized up our tablemates, and asked “If you could save one life, would you give up your gun?” Jenny! What? Don’t ask that, I am thinking. “Oh no, ma’am,” one man quickly replied, “it’s my Second Amendment right.” Undeterred, Jenny asked again, “What if you could save ten lives?” “Oh no, ma’am, it’s my Second Amendment right.” “One hundred lives?” “No ma’am.” “A thousand lives?” “No ma’am.” Stop, Jenny! Don’t you see we are sitting at a table of NRA supporters?! “Ten thousand lives?” By this time other men at the table were chiming in, all admitting they would willingly, without hesitation, sacrifice ten thousand lives to keep their guns. You may want to pause here to catch your breath. We did. Then our food came, the conversation shifted though it didn’t include us, and the program began.
For the next hour we listened to the founder of the Carry Conceal initiative in Ohio, his name lost to me now, and Toby Hoover, Director of the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence. Her husband had been shot and killed some thirty years earlier and she became heavily involved in the fledgling gun violence prevention movement, and later served on the Brady Campaign board.
The only question I remember posed by the Moderator was the last one. “If you knew that everyone in this room had a gun, how would you feel?” The conceal carry man replied proudly, “I would feel this is the safest place in all of Cleveland!” Toby said, “I would get out of here in a second.”
With that the meeting ended and chaos ensued. All the men at our table and others in the room went straight at Toby, crowding around her and yelling and pointing fingers in her face. Jenny and I were appalled and got in the middle of the commotion, and by the time we got to Toby, amazingly calm for the assault she had just endured, we reached out our hands and I said, “I’m Harry, this is Jenny, how can we help?”
That’s how it started. We reached out our hands, nothing more. I wasn’t sure where it might lead, maybe nowhere. But that one meeting, that one gesture, that one introduction, eventually led to the forming of New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence (newmexicanstopreventgunviolence.org) with all our many programs across the state. Our Guns to Gardens program is endorsed by the Presbyterian Church (USA), the United Church of Christ, and the Mennonites, thanks to Presbyterian Peace Fellowship and an overture coming from our session. There are Guns to Gardens events now in almost every state across the country.
This August at Ghost Ranch we are hosting the first national gathering of gun violence prevention advocates, from churches and groups across the country, and I invite you to join us! Talk to me or go to https://www.presbypeacefellowship.org/events/james-atwood-institute-for-congregational-courage/ for more information and registration. Scholarships are available but you must apply for it by this Monday, July 21st. Also consider joining us for just one night at the Ranch, Thursday, August 22, beginning with dinner at 6 pm and then at 7 pm hear Father John Dear give the keynote address “Faith and Courage to Prevent Gun Violence.”
Guns to Gardens. Swords into Plowshares. Mark 5:35-43. Here in Sunday’s story, Jesus extends his hand to a twelve-year-old girl who people claimed was dead. He lifts her up and she was given life again. Mark reminds us that the good news of Jesus is breaking into a world of chaos and death.
At the City Club of Cleveland years ago I had no idea what we did was biblical. Or where it would lead. We simply reached out our hands because someone needed us to at that moment.
What moment are we in right now? When and where will you reach out your hands?
Grace and peace,
Harry