By the Rev. Gil Caldwell
The violence at a theater in Aurora, Colo., brought to mind my memories of the violence at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999.
I was the pastor of Park Hill United Methodist Church in Denver from 1997 to 2001 and received the news of the Columbine shootings as I was in my office at the church. I discovered the daughter of one of the staff at the church taught at the school. My staff member had not heard from her daughter, and she understandably was disturbed. I volunteered to drive her to the school, which was in Littleton, outside of Denver.
For one of the few times in my life, I was oblivious to speed limits as I drove to the school. Because we could not drive to the Columbine campus, we were directed to a holding area at a nearby elementary school. There my staff member received a phone call from her daughter indicating she was safe and not among the injured.
As I prepared my sermon for the Sunday ahead, wondering what I could say to address the gun violence that has become far too frequent in our nation, some questions came to my mind. What impact would it have, what teaching value would result, if some family members, parents and others, allowed pictures of their dead loved ones made available for public viewing? Would a depiction of the gun wounds responsible for the death of their family member communicate the seriousness of gun violence that impacts all of us, regardless of our differing views on gun ownership?
Many, maybe most, of the TV murder-mystery programs seem to have no qualms about showing dead victims of violence, with particular attention to the wounds. If those who produce our popular fictional TV programs understand the powerful impact of depicting victims who have been violently murdered, how do we replicate that in real life?
My sermon preparation that week brought to mind not just television programs. I also remembered the death of Emmett Till. He was the 14-year-old boy who was brutally murdered in Mississippi during the racial violence of the 1950s. His mother decided to have a public funeral service with an open casket to “show the world the brutality of his killing.”
But, even as I remembered fictional TV murder mysteries and the real-life death of Till, I dared not in my sermon then suggest that a sharing and showing of pictures of those killed by senseless violence might serve to make all of us take more seriously in our thinking and acting what we might do to curb the violence. I was fearful of the negative reactions my suggestion might create.
Today the tragedy in Aurora has made me ponder more seriously the suggestion I failed to express in the past.
*Caldwell is a retired United Methodist elder now living in Asbury Park, N.J. He also shared his reflections on CNN’s “Faces of Faith” on July 22, 2012.
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Rap Posnik
July 24, 2012 at 1:54 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Sad as it seems, Columbine was only a start of things. These traggic events seem to become more frequent. A movie theather? These folks were target practice for a someone seriously ill? Your negative suggestions Pastor you did not suggest, happens during a heart breaking moment, stress, and the question always of WHY? The sad part, our country goes back into arguement of gun control, left and right fighting who knows best, when in fact in our cities that have banned guns, the major crimes committed are not much different than this one..the innocent become victims.
Charles Giles
July 27, 2012 at 4:26 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
The message that I am leaving has to do with irresponsible political activity with which you have been involved in, in an attempt to separate people from their CREATORs given right to protect their families and themselves.
The articles below are from a site named (Zionica News ) a Christian news site, and the first is a news bulletin, then the rest are responses to that article. You might like to read what other Christians think about your denominations meddling with their rights.
Methodism’s Moral Jihad
The smoke had barely cleared from the horrible Aurora, Colorado theater shootings when the Capitol Hill-based United Methodist lobby office issued its perfunctory call for gun control.
Citing United Methodism’s official support for a “ban on all handguns,” the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society also took its own metaphorical shots at a favorite nemesis. “Equal to our sadness at this tragic loss of life is our disappointment at Congress’ inability to place public safety above the interests of the National Rifle Assn.,” declared the lobby officials. “Our society can no longer afford to allow the power of the gun lobby in its efforts to ensure ownership without responsibility to keep Congress mute on this pressing public-safety issue.”
Since at least 1972, the United Methodist Church, which then had over 10 million members, has backed the elimination of private handgun ownership, among other gun control measures. Having lost 3 million members in the U.S. since then, the denomination is finding that its political lobbying, which never reflected most of the membership, is now even less heeded.
But the denomination’s faith in laws to eliminate evil dates back a century to an era when Methodism was one of America’s most potent political forces. Daniel Okrent’s 2010 Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, upon which the 2011 PBS series on the history of Prohibition was based, largely credited Methodist and Baptist clergy for leading the successful campaign. Actually it was mostly Methodism, then America’s largest Protestant force, and whose hierarchy made it more conducive to waging a national struggle.
The author of this has no real understanding to Methodism’s true beliefs. the author takes misunderstandings of the meaning of Christian Perfection and entire sanctification. the author seems to forget all the good that the early Methodist revivals did to awaken the Anglican Church which took a church that did not care for the poor, the oppressed, and could care less about the evils of society and slavery and brought the Spirit of God into every aspect of life and ended the British slave trade. the overall church in America is like the early 18th century Anglican church today that is in the same spiritual malaise that the Anglican Church had experienced. the church needs to get back to the transforming power of the gospel not just of the individual but also of society instead of focusing on an antichrist that is in our mind and looking for signs to events that took place 1950 years ago in a small very small portion of the Roman Empire. the Church of Jesus Christ was able to take over the influence of the Roman Empire and it can return to the center-point of American today.
You are talking mostly about different liberal leaders of North American United Methodist churches who are basically Methodists in name only. the United Methodist church in North America started straying from its roots when it stopped preaching against slavery in North America. there are still Methodist in America who are still true to their Methodist roots. study the Bible, getting involved helping improve society, and most importantly sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ that not only changes a person but can transform society.
Well, Wesley, the Methodist Church has strayed far from its roots. In Canada, it is in the forefront of the gay movement. I find it so incongruous that the Methodist Church has this irrational, visceral hatred for handguns, but is all in favor of the gay lifestyle which kills as many or more people with AIDS than are killed by guns. It’s a shame when churches leave the path of the Gospel to become embroiled in controversial secular issues. The Apostle Paul was undoubtedly opposed to slavery, but he didn’t divert Christianity to “social justice” with so many unsaved souls out there. And, just for the record, I’m Anglican–but I do not support gay marriage or gay clergy, at least the NRA supports the rights of the citizens.
It seems to me that the “”United Methodist Church”", should be concerned about the lack of their representation for the true gospel, in truth they are just another 501c3 church working for the elitist plans to control the population of the country by taking away the peoples absolute right to protect themselves from tyranny,(“especially that tyranny of the planned elitist takeover, and the corporate organization known as the US government”) the United Methodist Church hierarchy is nothing but a shill supposedly acting on the behalf of the betterment of man, supposedly speaking for their members, well I confess that I was once one of their members, “But They Surely Do Not Speak For Me”, and they surely do not stress Jesus, nor the scriptures, nor any of the instructions of our Father in heaven, they spout the same slogan as the elitists, {” Never let a true tragedy go to waste, Make hay while the sun is still shining on the catastrophe”}. The United Methodist Church, is a fine example of a Corporate, Communist, Socialist, Oligarchical, Nicolaitan Hierarchy, a organization that does not deserve to counted among those who aspire Christian principles. John Wesley is in a continual spinning motion in his grave, after founding that church, and the way that the so called church has gone. It is to bad that corporations can not be convicted of a crime, this one has surely cheated justice.
Apparently the Methodists do not read nor study the Bible. It is God’s Word which tells us in Joel 3:10 “Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, “I am a warrior.” And in Revelation Jesus is shown as our “Warrior King”. So were do these weak spirited Methodists come off in being wimps. I know..those apostate Pastors get their training at liberally and socialist minded schools of theology and brainwash the blind sheep from the pulpit. I didn’t give three years of my life to serve voluntarily in the U.S. Army to have errant pseudo-righteous Methodists (and other ignoramuses) to abandon our Constitutional freedom and liberty to bear arms for personal and national defense.
Rick Lear
August 1, 2012 at 1:46 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Charles,
I agree with you on all but 1 point.
This is OUR church and we need to ban together and oust the liberal minded leaders of the United Methodist Church. Jim Winkler is General Secretary of the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society (GBCS) and his cronies are in need of replacement. This organization should immediately be censored for disseminating false information and unreliable articles. If lies, deceit, and falsehoods are the tools used by the GBCS, it needs a housecleaning and ask God’s forgiveness.
The GBCS does serve many important ministries, but not at the expense of endorsement of government subjugation of the citizens. The leadership has failed to recognize why there is a separation of church and state in America.
Legalisms have led to the disintergration of many churches and ours could easily be the next.
I ask for prayers of forgiveness for Jim Winkler and cronies, but not forgetfulness.
It’s time to take back America and our Church!
Jim
July 28, 2012 at 4:13 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
These incidents exemplify the failings of the church to reach INDIVIDUALS in need. The purpose of the Church should be consolation to those who are troubled enough to commit atrocities such as Aurora or Columbine. It should be incumbent on all pastors to seek the troubled people and give compassionate help not condemnation then assert that all of us should worship at the alter of God not politicians. The Methodist Church seems to have decided to rely on political rather than spiritual solutions. Are our pastors in the Church failing us? It so seems. Violence incidents such as these have and will be around us and it is our job to show compassion and consolation to the victims and pray this doesn’t occur again. To suggest political action, is the church overstepping its boundaries and vacating its responsibilites. I hope the leadership recognizes that and in the future refrains for that kind of action, rather minister to the emotional need of the people and teach them about moral failings. That should be the mission of the church.
Rap Posnik
July 28, 2012 at 7:29 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Thinking further, I used to teach drivers ed. I know that showing pictures of teens killed in accidents, teens invoved in drinking and driving. Teens texting and driving. Does not work. I think we have to be careful as to what we do show. Pictures of dead relatives with bullet holes may knee jerk us into another direction that may not heal the problem. We have become a broken America. Divorce, broken homes, no parenting, kids doing what ever they so desire. Parents have lost control not only in parenting, but one phone call can have a parent arrested for abuse. It is America gone rampant. We, us Christians are the anchor. We have to refuse viewing TV that shows that are violence, nudity, rape, sex murder, savage behavior. We have grown accustom to laugh at these things that we have grown used to seeing. I think the word is decent-satized..Folks if it is not decent, turn it off. Ask yourself would you watch what is on TV if God was sitting next to you? Complain to the networks. This nonsense is killing America, and we are a part of it. Now if I hurt someones feelings, too bad. I have had enough. I turned off the tube twelve years ago. I don’t miss the garbage and raw commercials that are pure nonsense. Throw out your anchor Christans..take no more nonsense..start writing..start complaining and by all means start praying!