Dear friends in Christ,

In the chaos of nightfall over the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus remained steadfast in his resolve to bring healing instead of harm, life instead of death to the world. When a slave of those making his arrest was injured, Jesus rebuked the follower who make the attack, and healed the injury it caused. Jesus certainly had words for those sent to arrest him, also, words about their weapons; and he refused to let the scene descend into further violence.

As we continue to reel from the deadly outburst of political violence that killed a bystander and injured others, including former President Donald Trump, we can see in that moment both a reflection of our increasing divisions as a nation, and our tendency to reach for the gun, all too often forgetting Jesus’ admonition that, “those who live by the sword will die by the sword,” and his tendency to heal rather than to further harm.

As Presiding Bishop Michael Curry posted Saturday night, "The way of love—not the way of violence—is the way we bind up our nation’s wounds. We decry political violence in any form, and our call as followers of Jesus of Nazareth is always to love.”

As we consider how we as followers of Jesus might promote peace and decrease gun violence in our communities – and our country – we have opportunities and support all around us.

• This weekend the Festival of Nonviolence and Peacemaking will take place across three days and three cities: Cleveland, Akron, and Canton, on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, respectively. Each iteration of the Festival will feature a presentation by Shane Claiborne of Guns to Gardens, a physical and literal embodiment of the words of the prophets, beating swords into plowshares, guns into garden tools. The Ohio Council of Churches, of which the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio is a member, is a sponsor of the Festival. Find more information here.

• General Convention last month passed four major resolutions addressing gun violence solutions. Resolutions included calling for the naming of gun violence as a public health crisis; calling for registration, licensing, and tracking of firearms in this country; lamenting the mass shootings that have become part of our public landscape while calling for restrictions on military-style assault weapons; and promoting the safe storage of firearms in our homes and communities to reduce the risk to children, vulnerable people, and our communities as a whole.

• Bishop Anne Jolly posted on Saturday an extract from the Prayer for Our Country from the Book of Common Prayer. It includes the lines, “Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride, arrogance, and from every evil way. … In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in thee to fail.”

May we continue to turn without confusion to the example of Jesus, to the way of love, to bring healing to our communities and to our country. Let me know how I can help.

In love and peace, 

Rosalind +