News media contact: Tim Tanton · (615) 742-5470· Nashville, Tennessee
The shootings last spring at Columbine High School evoked a sometimes spoken and more often unspoken response: "It is not supposed to happen here!"
In the case of the April 20th tragedy, "here" was suburban Littleton, Colo., a 40-minute drive from Park Hill United Methodist Church in Denver, where I am pastor. The shooting rampage by two boys resulted in 15 deaths and the wounding of many others.
Six months after that tragedy, we in this part of the world are struggling with the legacy of the violence. We want to be sensitive to the pain of the families of those killed, the difficult journeys toward healing of those wounded, and the efforts of students and teachers who remain in the school to manage their terrible memories.
The recent suicide of the mother of one of the wounded girls reminds us of how tragedy at one time and place has a way of causing the continuation of tragedy at other times and places.
The Rev. Chester Jones put the violence into fresh perspective during his Sept. 25 installation address as the new general secretary of the Washington-based United Methodist Commission on Religion and Race. He linked the Columbine shootings with other recent acts of violence directed at people who are "different." These moments of violence are tied together by threads of similarity that can be difficult for us to see.
Jones' theme was "A Vision By Which We Can Travel Together." Using words from the Old Testament books of Joel and Habakkuk and from the 28th chapter of Matthew, he reminded us of how important vision and mission, when linked together, are in dealing with racism, "the unfinished agenda of the church."
His words spoke to the specific need to overcome racism, racial insensitivity and apathy, but also addressed all of the struggles that afflict the human family.
People of faith, in particular, have not always been able to visualize the linkage between racist attitudes and actions with the words and deeds of other kinds of insensitivity. We move to a new century recognizing that racism is not a nightmare of the past but a living, breathing reality in the here and now. The subtle racism and insensitivity of these moments in history can be more demonic and harmful than the overt hatred of the past.
What Chester Jones is reminding us of is that no matter who we are, where we live, who lives near us, what our faith perspective is, or what kinds of injustice most infuriate us, we are challenged by our faith to comprehend our relatedness.
Hateful attitudes and actions of one kind have a way of creating the climate for hateful actions of other kinds. There are no hiding places!
In his address, Jones mentioned Helen Keller, that blind, deaf, mute, spiritual giant of a woman who called Tuscumbia, Ala., home. It is said that Keller was once asked, "Is there anything worse than being blind?" We are told she responded, "Yes, being able to see and have no vision."
We in church and society are challenged by Jones to visualize the ways in which hateful attitudes and actions are connected. And we are challenged to model a way of living that overcomes hate. That's what Christian love is about.
As Arsenio Hall used to say on the television program he once hosted, "Let's get busy!"
November 3, 1999
*Caldwell is senior minister of Park Hill United Methodist Church in
Denver.
| Top | Black Church Fires | UMW's Antihate Page | MMHV Home GBGM |
Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New York, and Washington
Commentaries provided by United Methodist News Service do not necessarily represent the opinions or policies of UMNS or the United Methodist Church.