A Price too High

20 children are dead.

As the news of yet another mass shooting emerged today from Connecticut, commentators, politicians and pundits began posing the questions asked after events such as this.  When is it appropriate to debate gun violence?  How long after a tragedy do we need to wait before “politicizing” the shootings?  Essentially, they lead us in a debate about the debate.

I have another question to pose.

When in the midst of this ongoing orgy of gun violence will we as a society decide that too many children are dying for the sake of a “right to bear arms?”

That is the question that faces us and it is a question that cannot wait.  The old saying that there is "no time like the present" rings painfully true.  We owe it to the next victims of gun violence to take this moment and ask, "is this worth it?"

Beyond all the grand and abstract language of liberty and rights, there is a fundamental reality that is being ignored.  20 grade school children are dead because searing pieces of metal fired from a gun tore through their bodies and robbed them of their futures.   Their deaths and their families’ grief are not abstract.   They are not merely a piece in a larger conversation on guns and violence.  Their deaths are the price tag for preserving a culture of absolute liberty in gun possession. 

As with so many unspeakable tragedies, our first inclination is to seek some measure of understanding.  We want to find out what in this young man’s life and spirit led him to do this.  We want to get to the bottom of this event so we can put our minds at ease that this was somehow and unusual or one-off event distinguished from any potential imitation. 

Compounding the tragedy is how familiar it has become.  Movie theaters, malls, places of worship and now even elementary schools are not excused from the bloodshed of gun violence.  As the tragedy unfolds, we share in a common sense of shock and sadness, let the media paint a picture of the “lone gunman” that allows us to differentiate him from anyone else we may encounter and finally, we get past it.

Still, 20 children are dead.

We as a culture must break this endless cycle of tragedy-shock-blame-moving on.  We must draw a line in the sand and say, “no more.”  We, as a nation and as a church, must not let this moment pass us by. 

Unfortunately both church and state are too often silent.  The vacuum of courage in our political culture is not an excuse for the silence of the church.  If we wait for Republicans to break free the shackles of the NRA or the Democrats to find what is left of their courage on this issue, we wait for Godot.

As disciples of Jesus Christ, the church has an obligation to carry the message and the witness of Jesus Christ into the world.  While there may be room for debate on some parts of Jesus’ teachings on money or marriage or salvation, there can be no debate about Jesus’ unflinching love and care for children.  

We fail in our calling as Christians if we do not shout, from every pulpit and pew, that this must end.   God is concerned more with the care and nurture of the children of God than the preservation and exercise of man-made political rights.  If the price we pay to end the cycle of violence that can and has led to the mass killing of children is to give up the unfettered right to own and carry guns, then that is the price we pay.  Can true liberty be built on the senseless sacrifice of children? 

When Abraham took Isaac up onto the mountain, God stayed Abraham’s hand demonstrating once and for all that the blood of a child is too high a price to pay, even for the favor of God.  We, the church, must have the courage to stand up and stay the hand of the culture and declare that nothing that is right, good or free can be bought with the life of a child. 

That is a cost that is simply too high.