Seeking Common Ground

This morning, I woke up groggy and unsure if I was prepared for the day, but I knew that today was the day that the Episcopal Church would march around Salt Lake City seeking common ground against gun violence, so I got up. I barely made it down there when the speaker began. We heard several stories, one from a bishop who has survived a gun shot injury. He shared about how he watched his father age before his eyes as he recovered in his hospital bed. Another from a former police officer who had dedicated her life to trying to protect the citizens, but watching as gun violence wreaked havoc on her community. She shared that today she lives in a gun free home and finds herself in arguments with responsible gun owners about the need for guns in everyday life. She stated that we are both seeking the same end. We all want safety, one seeks to do that by protecting themselves; the other aims to eliminate access to the tool of human destruction. But the end goal is the same.

Out last speaker, Carolyn Tuft, told us about the day that her daughter was shot dead in front of her own eyes. She and her daughter had gone to the mall to buy a greeting card and only minutes after entering the store, a man wielding a shot gun shot her daughter in the back and then in the head at point blank range and her in the abdomen and shoulder. She survived, but at great personal expense. She lost everything, not to mention her sweet 15 year old daughter.

The group was motivated to walk because of the unheard of level of violence that is plaguing out country. Bishop Sutton spoke of and unholy trinity of poverty, racism and gun violence. He acknowledged that the only solution is the Holy Trinity. Only God can combat that kind of injustice in the world. You can read a story about the march here at this link. (http://www.sltrib.com/news/2674376-155/the-word-of-god-is-my)

What is going on in our country is unacceptable and one of the points Carolyn Tuft made was that if we put things in place that prevent gun violence, we won't know whose lives it will save, because we will still be here. What a message.

The issues of injustice do not stop there, of course. The unholy trinity has far reaching implications and today the House of Deputies voted on an issue that is very near to my heart, criminal justice. I have always thought that term was pretty ridiculous, because no justice is being served in that system. Not in my opinion. We had a resolution today that address most of the issues and "encouraged" advocacy actions on the parts of each diocese and parish. The list included putting a stop to the mass incarceration system (through advocacy at every possible level), advocating for alternative sentencing for people addicted and suffering from mental illness, advocating for appropriate assistance for people with disabilities, advocating for job training in and outside the prison walls that will actually lead to employment, the repealing of mandatory minimum sentencing laws, eliminating "three strikes" legislation, working together to initiate or maintain "Ban the Box" laws, reforming bail bonds systems that work at the detriment to the poor and disadvantaged, advocating for felons to have the right to participation in society through their right to vote, and advocating to transform juvenile justice systems to be more reformative rather than punitive. Quite a list to be sure, and every single one of them is of utmost importance to me! I have a huge heart for the felons of the world. Probably because my father was one and I fell in love with one. Tomorrow is a hearing on a resolution that Canon Catherine and I wrote. I will be there to testify and demand that our church takes a stand. not only by talking about it while we are here at convention, but out in the real world. It is so much easier to talk, but are we walking the walk?

We walked this morning, but we have to keep walking. This is not the end. Our job as people of Christ is so much bigger than that! We have to stand up and prevent injustice, not just speak out against it. We need to DO justice, DO peace, DO mercy. Join with me as we work toward actual change.