Help Us End Gun Violence

Friends,

This week saw another school shooting in the United States. As a parent of school age children, an aunt, a citizen of the United States, and a follower of Jesus, these shootings break my heart. Each and every one of them. I believe that our children have the right to go to school and feel safe on a daily basis. 

Even though each school shooting is a tragedy, some strike closer to home than others. The one this week, in Nashville, brought the reality of gun violence in America nearer to my family because my nephew attends school near the place where the shooting took place. As a mom, who sends her child to school every day, I have to put some distance between my family and the possibility of a school shooting in order to let my daughter step on to the school campus.

The events of this past week remind me that school shootings can happen anywhere, anytime. I am not content to live with this reality. I don’t think you are either. Jesus calls us to be peacemakers and this means we are called to speak out against violence and take actions to make this world a safer place for ALL people.

Last year, FUMCO, in partnership with the PNW Annual Conference, started an initiative to end gun violence. We have a website with resources to equip us to learn more about this issue, write to our lawmakers, and advocate for gun laws that protect the most vulnerable among us.

I encourage you to visit this website. Watch the video featuring Pastor Alexa and Church Council Chair Doug Lacey-Roberts. It has helpful information about upcoming legislation in Washington State. There is a button, right on the website, that you can click to write to your lawmaker. Click the link below to go to the website and please share this valuable resource with others: https://fumcoly.org/end-gun-violence.

In addition to advocacy for safer gun laws, I also encourage you to pray. Please pray for the victims of this latest mass shooting. Pray for their families and the community left to grapple with the grief left in the wake of senseless violence. Pray for all kids and parents who go to school everyday with the threat of gun violence as a present reality. Pray for our lawmakers, pray for our nation.  

In our Wesley tradition, prayer paired with action, has been a powerful tool of social change. From the beginning, Methodists have been putting their faith in action to impact the world for good. Let us continue that tradition and advocate for an end to gun violence. With God and each other, we can make a change.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Heather