Setting Aside Fear

What this episode covers

(Epiphanytide - The Rev. Richard E. Helmer) We hear this Gospel story today against the backdrop of national tragedy - the shooting of a congressional representative, a federal judge, of citizens out to learn more about their government or simply to buy groceries to feed their families, of a nine-year-old girl who tragically will not in this life experience the self-discoveries of turning twelve. We recoil at this blight on our open society, and agree wholeheartedly with the universal condemnation of it as we pray for the survivors and the families and friends of all the victims. But it is not enough, it seems to me, to simply call this act "senseless" as one prominent politician did yesterday, and then move on with life as usual. The shooting yesterday embodies the division, distortion, and demonization that has come to dominate and dehumanize our national conversations over the past few years.

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