“Don’t you think it’s… weird,” my husband commented the other day,

“that we live in a place where we hear gun shots all the time-

and don’t think much about it…?”

He poured himself another cup of coffee,

reached down to scratch the cat on her head,

and left the room.

Semi-rural, suburban Pennsylvania.

That’s where we live.

With neighbors close enough to borrow the cup of sugar we lack

and just down the street, acres of corn and cows in pasture.

“Ground hog, probably,” was my husband’s analysis,

said with some assurance as he mounted the stairs towards his office,

climbing back into the world of math and spreadsheets and far-away clients.

I imagined what a groundhog with a gun would look like.

Clearly, that’s not what he meant.

The ground hog was on the receiving end of the gun.

Last Sunday we joined 100 other people to

Remember

React

Respond

to the crisis of gun violence in our city.

We heard the story of a woman whose innocent- and brown- son

had been shot dead in the middle of the night

minding his own business.

It was a case of mistaken identity as this 18-year old’s life was taken

on the streets of suburban Philadelphia.

We marched, past the scene of shootings in our own city, from church to temple.

We prayed in the faith tradition of Christians, Jews, Muslims.

We prayed to our One God whose attention has not escaped how we are killing ourselves.

Groundhogs.

18 year-old brown boys.

Newspaper reporters.

Concert goers

Church goers

Dance club patrons

Kindergartners.

God help us, that we become so desensitized that sipping our morning coffee,

and hearing the crack of a .22, we do not wonder.

God help us, that another innocent life is taken, and nothing happens.

God help us.

*****

Use this link to learn about the legislation that has been considered and enacted on the issue of gun violence in our Commonwealth

http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/textSearchAction.cfm?allowCache=true&cmd=search&searchType=allwords&sort=Hits&sa=0&CiScope=20170txt&CiRestriction=guns

Check out Heeding God’s Call, an interfaith effort in our capitol city that focuses on five areas vital to eliminating gun violence:  Education, Public Witness,  Illegal gun trafficking, Improving Laws and Networking.  Heedingharrisburg.org

Use this link to discover prayers, litanies and other liturgical resources provided by Bishops United Against Gun Violence (The Episcopal Church)  http://bishopsagainstgunviolence.org/liturgical-resources/

Note: This blog will be on hiatus during General Convention.  Please follow General Convention at www.diocesecpa.org for daily blog postings from our deputation and short video updates.  “On the Way” will return on 20 July.