It Has to Stop!

It has to stop!

A declaration? A demand? An exclamation?  More like a plea. 

Please, God, it has to stop!

In a month in which many Christians acknowledge support of the sanctity of life, over 40 people of all ages were killed in Chicago by gun violence.  If we truly value life from “its conception to its natural end” as many say, each and every one of these lives that were lost were should alarm us.  They were all created in the image of God.  God weeps when His image is wiped out.

Some of the deaths get more attention than others.  Two men shot down in front of a hamburger stand is alarming.  A woman gunned down in her car on the ramp from Lake Shore Drive, peaks our curiosity.  The death of 15 year old Hadiyah Pendleton, shot after school while she was seeking shelter under a play structure from the rain, garners national attention and increases our ire.  Her death became national news.  All of these shooting deaths are sad.

Our collective hearts broke when 26 children and adults were murdered in one day at Sandy Hook Elementary School.  Chicago is experiencing Sandy Hook in slow motion…40+ deaths in one month. 

Public debates rage between gun rights and gun restriction advocates.  The argument that guns don’t kill people, people kill people is lost on me.  People are sinful and if they have access to weapons they will use them for evil purposes.  Drugs don’t kill people, people misuse drugs.  Yet, we have laws that limit drugs, even legal drugs, to protect us from ourselves.

From a Christian perspective, this is not an urban problem, or a Chicago problem, or a South Side problem.  This is “our” problem.  We are part of God’s kingdom trying to spread His influence everywhere.  If some part of His kingdom is hurting, we need to figure out how we can increase His influence. 

Putting an end to murders in Chicago is an overwhelming challenge.  Who would know where to begin, or what to do?  But famine, war, poverty and world hunger, are also overwhelming challenges, but we get involved at some level to make a difference.  I can’t solve the murder problem in Chicago, but I can do something.  I’m not sure exactly what that is, but I believe God wants me/us to do something.

              
So, I am going to pray.  I am going to plead to God that He miraculously intervene and put an end to the violence. 

              
I am going to pray, that God will show me what I can do to help in my little sphere of influence, in my corner of the world, with my gifts and talents.

              
I am not going to start a national program, or propose denominational involvement, or encourage our congregation to take on this problem.  I am going to seek God’s leading to use me to make a little bit of difference, to do my part. 

              
These murders are symptoms of a greater problem in our culture.  They are intertwined with poverty, racism, classism, lack of educational opportunities and, in my opinion, one of the greatest missing links in peoples’ lives, the absence of mentors and role models. 

              
I have no idea what might come of this, or what God will do.  This is all I do know:

It has to stop!