Love bigger, stronger and more courageously!
“As a follower of Jesus, who commands me to love my neighbor as myself, I forfeit my Second Amendment right to bear arms.” In this statement I finally found my voice to respond to the heartbreaking news of innocent children and families being victims of gun violence. Frustration has mounted inside me as I have felt helpless to do anything about gun violence. Then one of my grandchildren asked for a bulletproof backpack. Another grandchild said simply, “My generation is screwed!” I felt energized to do something about gun violence. Why are we putting up with this gun violence without speaking out of our faith? Why are we putting up with this gun violence without taking action to save the ones we love?
When I learned that I could join other Church of the Brethren folks who wanted to become active to end gun violence, I eagerly joined them. We are called the Church of the Brethren Gun Violence Prevention Action Team. And “action” is an important part of living out our faith in regard to gun violence. Jesus taught us to love even our enemy. We MUST love bigger and stronger and more courageously!
One of our team members is Sandi Rogers, a Church of the Brethren pastor in Maryland. After learning about the Sutherland Spring Baptist Church shooting in Texas that killed 26 and wounded 22 worshippers, she committed herself to being an agent of change to end gun violence. Part of what she does is to annually create a bulletin insert to inform her congregants. We asked her to create an insert that would be helpful to all of us. This is the insert flyer she created.
Bev Eikenberry, Manchester CoB