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Hoodie
A United Methodist Insight Exclusive
Certainly the Trayvon Martin killing is a tragic event; hopefully it will be a teachable moment.
In thinking about this incident, I am appalled by the murders which occur daily across the United States! Every day during the morning news, violent crimes are the first stories reported. As we listen to the details associated with the incidents, the messages are incredibly depressing and maddening - a person killed over a failed relationship, a neighborhood gang attack, a drug-related murder, an innocent child bystander shot, a stabbing during an unsuccessful robbery, ... and the reports go on and on, don't they? In some cases the motives are known and in some they are not! Some of these situations have racial overtones and some don't.
Where is the outcry of the church over these senseless murders? THOUSANDS of people are dying across this country every year and most of us United Methodists proceed with our daily lives as though the steady diet of shootings and other violent crimes is just a fact of life we can't or shouldn't address!
My lethargy for this epidemic was recently shattered when a wonderful, outgoing, very active member of our local church was brutally murdered. My wife had been in a meeting at the church with her the night before the attack! To some in the community, it was just another killing. To us it was the death of someone we loved and will miss every year when we plan our church-wide retreat, when we announce the Christmas mitten tree, and when we gather for worship! There will be a hole in our hearts for years to come!!!
The truth is that with every murder, holes are left in hearts! With every killing, God's heart aches!!
During worship we all too often sing words from God's heart "I have heard my people cry ... I have wept for love of them ... I have borne my people's pain...Whom shall I send ... " and then respond with "... I will hold your people in my heart...!!!!!"
God hears the cries of the thousands of victims of violent crime in our cities, towns, and countrysides... but do we? Are we really holding God's people in our hearts? If we are, shouldn't we be OUTRAGED by the plague of carnage all around us?
It is my hope that the Trayvon Martin killing will capture the nation's attention and, especially, our denomination's attention! May we all hear the cry of God's people and respond that we will hold God's people in our hearts!! Let's begin to pray now for guidance regarding how we United Methodists can be ambassadors of transformation and reconciliation in this country and this world wracked by violence!
If we are serious about being the Holy Spirit's agents in forming disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world, are we equally serious about helping to form disciples of Jesus Christ who will hear the cry of God's people and will hold God's people in their hearts?
Please think about the Trayvon Martin shooting and ask how our church can be God's agent of transformation in this world NOW!
Mr. Tracy Merrick is a member of First United Methodist Church of Pittsburgh, PA, and has served as a delegate or alternate to the last seven General Conferences. He is currently assisting with the organization of the new Office of Christian Unity and Interreligious Relationships within the Council of Bishops. Until recently, he was treasurer of the national board of the Methodist Federation for Social Action.