THE MOTHER EMMANUEL SHOOTING

It is too small a thing to condemn racism once again. It is too small a thing to condemn gun violence once again. It is unacceptable to attribute the violence against a Black congregation to a deranged lone gunman when systemic racism and systemic violence are pervasive and are being overtly acted out with increasing frequency. We must not "heal our people's wounds too lightly," as Jeremiah put it. Nothing short of the gospel can speak for us to this tragedy, a gospel not just proclaimed but acted on to usher in the Kingdom. We need a lot more Kingdom right now -- a lot more justice in the distribution of resources and opportunities, a lot less racist blaming of minorities to distract poor whites from the real forces behind their growing numbers and declining quality of life, a lot more curiosity and imagining our way into each other's situations, a lot less grudge clinging, a lot more hope for the common good, and a lot less scrambling to get our piece of the action. We need the gospel to infiltrate the real life of the people, not just as individuals but as a people,  and  make the creation new right now.