This post will probably make some people mad

I’ve been thinking about what to say, and if I should say anything about the Orlando killings.

To say nothing is not an option – that is a cope out.

Some will say this is too late – but life happens. Sometimes there are more than enough people and events and activities to fill the day that you simply don't have the time to think carefully and thoughtfully about situations like this. There have been far too many inappropriate things said in the last few days, to rush any comments. As I said in a tweet “I have no words for what happened in Orlando but I would hate for my silence to be taken as anything other than shock, grief and sadness.”

Our first response is to grieve with those who grieve, to weep with those who weep, to mourn with those who mourn. Some will say that is not enough, and they are probably right; but, if we don’t begin there, we deny our humanity and we deny the humanity of those who were shot.

So what can I say that speaks to the situation?

I want to say this carefully and loudly. Nothing that follows, is in anyway a minimization of the hurt and pain that the LGBTQ community feels over this shooting. That action was wrong – no matter what the race, religion, creed, or sexuality of the perpetrator; no matter what the race, religion, creed, or sexuality of those who were shot. It was more than wrong. It was more than tragic. It was evil. You can’t make sense of evil.

But there is something deeper here, than the hatred that the LGBTQ community feels. I need to say this again: nothing that follows in anyway minimizes the hurt and pain that the LGBTQ community feels. And when we – whether that’s evangelical Christians, Jews, Muslims, atheists, whatever stripe you call yourself, or simply as human beings – when we fail to grieve with those who are grieving we are acting as less than people.

So yes, the perpetrator was Muslim. Yes, the victims were, I can only assume, largely LGBTQ. Yes, there is some suggestion of mental health issues. Yes, guns were involved. But if we make what happened about one of those things (there’s no good word that I am aware of to pull all of these together. I don’t want to use the world “issue” as that is so dehumanizing) we end up with a too narrow view of what happened.

Stay with me.

• The media has labelled this the worst mass shooting in USA history. It is part of a string of mass shootings, going back well over a 100 years. It’s not the worst: people have conveniently forgotten the Wounded Knee Massacre of 29 December 1890, when 150-300 Lakota Indians – men, women and children – were shot by the U.S. 7^th Cavalry Regiment.
• I haven’t been able to find the numbers, but gun violence has taken more lives since the Orlando killings. The site, www.gunviolencearchive.org, says that 6,051 people in the USA have been killed by gun violence between 1 January 2016 and 14 June 2016.
• The US and to some extent Canada loves the idea of personal rights. This often gets defined as “I should be able to do whatever I want.” If that means carry assault weapons, or have the right to kill myself, I should be able to do that.
• Our neighbours in the USA execute criminals, despite the fact that many of those executed are poor, black, with mental health issues and poorly represented in court.
• Here in Canada, the Supreme Court has said that the unborn child is not a person and can be killed at anytime prior to birth. Some abortions take place later than pre-mature births. And yet neither the Courts nor the Government see the irony of this. Some are now using the language of post-birth abortion for infanticide.
• We are in the final stages of passing a law on Euthanasia (of course, we have replaced that word with the much nicer sounding MAID – Medical Assistance In Dying), while we remove protection for the most vulnerable, and reduce funding for palliative care.

Those items listed above, highlight the fact that we live in a culture of violence, hatred and death. Some of the reactions to the Orlando shootings highlight this. There are some within the Christian community who – and this is grieves my heart – who have made comments that have (this list is not in any priority order):

• condemned Muslims;
• condemned the LGBTQ community;
• condemned those who argue for restrictions on guns (no matter how minor the changes);
• ignored the pain and hurt of those both within and outside the LGBTQ community who have lost family and friends;
• called this God’s wrath or judgement;
• made excuses; and,
• said “everything happens for a reason.” No it doesn’t. Evil has no reason. It is anti-reason, anti-love.

All of this is wrong.

The central issue here is:

• not Muslim vs Christian;
• not how much violence is rooted in Islam;
• not terrorism or ISIS/ISIL;
• not LGBTQ rights;
• not gun control;

but how do we as followers of Jesus, speak and live (we need to do both) the good news of the Kingdom:

• in the midst of a world full of violence and hate (and too often Christians have been the ones who have propagated that violence and hate);
• announcing that there is room at the Table for everyone (not everyone “except…”, or everyone “but…”);
• welcoming and inviting people to Jesus who welcomes and invites everyone to come to him, to meet him, to be loved by him, to be transformed by him.

When we participate, actively or passively, in the dehumanizing caricatures of those we disagree with and those we fear because they are “other”; when we broadcast those fears; when we don’t discern, in community, the impact of our words and actions and lack of action; we are failing to incarnate the gospel. We are failing to live what Jesus said: 

“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5:43-48, NLT

This post is obviously a partial and incomplete response. The solutions are not easy.

However…

Jesus came to us in love:

• not while we were at our best, but while we were at our worst.
• not when we were treating him as a friend, but when we were treating him as an enemy.”

As recipients of God’s amazing grace, may we show love and grace to our LGBTQ family, neighbours, friends and co-workers during a time where they feel judged and hated. This is a time for love and compassion from the church. This is a time where we can enter in their suffering with them.

As recipients of God’s amazing grace, may we show love and grace to our Muslim family, neighbours, family, friends and co-workers during a time where they feel judged and hated. This is a time for love and compassion from the church. This is a time where we can enter in their suffering with them.

As recipients of God’s amazing grace, may we show love and grace to all who are victims of injustice. This is a time for love and compassion from the church. This is a time where we can enter in their suffering with them.

Jesus loved the outcasts and the oppressed so passionately, it made religious heads spin. May God’s rescuing, redeeming, transforming grace continue its work, so that more and more, we love our neighbours as scandalously as Jesus did.

The teacher of the law asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbour?” Jesus answered with the parable of the Good Samaritan – the one close to you is your neighbour. Let’s love our neighbours.