A United Methodist Insight Column
If ever we could use encouragement in the faith, it’s now. Before you start reading this week’s Crisis Watch, I suggest you first read “A Pep Talk for Us Church Folk” by the Rev. Cindy Hickman. Although she wrote it before the most recent spate of mass shootings, it’s still valid for the times in which we’re living.
In a spirit of faithfulness, I offer some of the latest news about the crises we face, so that we can know specifically where the world needs to see and hear the love of Christ.
More shootings since Uvalde
As of June 2, there were at least 13 mass shootings in the United States, 12 of them over the Memorial Day weekend, according to the Washington Post’s “Top 7” newsletter May 31. In addition to the June 1 killings at a Tulsa, Okla., medical building, shootings happened from California to Michigan to Tennessee. “Several took place at parties, and one at a Memorial Day event,” the Post reports. “At least eight people were killed and 55 injured.”
Student mental health behind in Texas
The Texas Tribune reports that a $290 million youth mental health program …designed to reach troubled students like 18-year-old Salvador Ramos,” has reached only 40 percent of the Texas’ 300 school districts. Unfortunately, it hadn’t reached Uvalde by the time Ramos set out on his murderous spree, “the deadliest school shooting in Texas history,” as the Tribune puts it.
Politicians are claiming that mental illness, not the easy availability of assault weapons, lies at the root of the Uvalde massacre. Local authorities have described mental illness as problem in Uvalde, where 1 in 5 residents is uninsured. Even if we accept this premise, which many don’t, easy access to guns remains a major factor.
Read more from the Tribune’s Karen Brooks Harper. Then ask yourself: what could our church be doing to improve our community's mental health?
Nashville Library Card
The Nashville Public Library had an unexpected response to its provocative design for a library card. (Image Courtesy of Nashville Public Library)
Score one for all us readers
While John Wesley proclaimed himself “a man of one book” (meaning the Bible), he was still an Oxford don who read voraciously and hardly had an unpublished thought. Having built his ministry on uniting “knowledge and vital piety,” we wonder if he’d be as pleased with the Nashville Public Library as we are.
“A limited-edition library card proclaiming ‘I read banned books’ is so popular that Nashville officials have decided to make it a permanent option,” Axios Nashville's Adam Tamburin reports.
Tamburin reports that more than 4,200 Nashville readers signed up for the provocative design a few days after “state lawmakers approved legislation that gives a politically appointed panel the power to remove books from school libraries across the state.”
Hot towns, summer in the cities
Faith-based climate activists will be pleased to note that more cities are getting serious about heat mitigation, Jennifer A. Kingson writes for Axios What's Next.
“Cities have been warming at twice the global average because of the ‘urban heat island’ effect — buildings and pavement trap heat that might have been diffused by foliage,” says the Axios PM newsletter for May 31, 2022. “Some cities are trying to use cooling methods other than air conditioning, which is energy- and emissions-intensive.
Good example: “Phoenix has a ‘Cool Pavement’ program — painting a gray coat on streets, reducing road temperatures, Scientific American reports. The city aims to build 100 ‘Cool Corridors’ by 2030.
“Chelsea, Massachusetts, a low-income neighbor of Boston, has a ‘Cool Block’ project, per WBUR: ‘There are 47 new elm, crabapple, cherry and hawthorn trees. Sidewalks are being ripped up to add planters, porous pavers or white concrete. Dark asphalt will be replaced with gray.'"
Media Mentions as of June 2, 2022
Austin church members create memorial for community to grieve those killed in Robb ... KVUE
Sherman Avenue United Methodist Church to celebrate Pride Month with Pride Flag Raising ... – Madison365
Local church holds memorial honoring Texas shooting victims - KPIC
21 empty chairs outside a Westlake church memorialize Uvalde victims – Austin American-Statesman
City of Great Falls files lawsuit against church's homeless encampment - KRTV
16 chairs displayed outside National United Methodist Church in DC to honor Uvalde, Texas victims – YouTube
Empty chairs line lawns of Ohio's churches following Texas school shooting - Cleveland 19
Here's what Michigan Methodists are tackling at 1st in-person conference in 3 years - Detroit News
Empty school chairs line Alameda street in powerful memorial honoring Uvalde shooting victims – KTVU
Interfaith leaders join protest outside NRA meeting in Houston - Religion News Service
Americans' erratic relationship with religion will be tested again after abortion ruling, experts say – USA Today
'I forgive him': Uvalde victim's uncle turns to his faith in wake of deadly school shooting - CNN
Should religion influence U.S. public policy? | Richard Ostling - Patheos
Foundation partners with United Methodist Church to donate medical supplies to Ukraine – ABC News
Pasadena mourns victims of mass shootings during vigil at First United Methodist Church –Los Angeles Daily News
'We aint going nowhere': Historically Black Springfield church responds to racist swastika – KSMU
Cops investigate swastika painted on Black Missouri church | AP News
Grace United Methodist Church in Harrisburg apologizes to LGBTQ+ community in ... - PennLive.com
21 chairs: Lowell United Methodist Church memorializes Uvalde shooting victims - FOX 17
Petersville United Methodist cancels Sunday service due to COVID-19 | The Republic News
Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011. This content may be reproduced elsewhere with credit to United Methodist Insight.