The Georgia School Shooting: A Sermon for a Season of Violence, by John Zmirak

Given the spread of violence across America, and the unfortunate politicization of these events, I’ve written a statement that virtually any Protestant or Catholic pastor could release, or deliver from the pulpit, in the wake of the next outrageous attack on innocent life using guns. As a public service to Christians in America, I’ve written it to avoid a dehumanizing and amoral fixation on public policy proposals that usually follow these tragedies, and I’ve refrained from recommending government as the messianic force to which we look when faced by radical evil.

To the Congregation:

Dearly beloved. Today we gather to pray together to obey the words of Jesus, who asked us to share bread and wine “in remembrance of Me.” In one of the paradoxes of our faith, such gatherings are bloodless reenactments of His redeeming death on the cross. In the midst of life, we remember death. Gathering as we do in the hope of life but under the shadow of death, we can take some comfort that we Christians are more prepared than the pagans to face moments of darkness, horror, and sin. …

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