Second Sunday after Pentecost – Byron Tindall
The Second Sunday after Pentecost 43 years ago was on June 17. It was also Fathers’ Day that year and one of the hottest Sundays I ever remember in Boonville, New York. On that day in 1979, the Rt. Rev. Ned Cole, Bishop of Central New York, ordained David R. Mihalyi and me to the priesthood in Trinity Episcopal Church in Boonville.
I tell you all of this because I’m about to do something I promised myself some 44 years ago I’d never do. This sermon is going to be political. I’ve always urged people to vote by saying something to the effect that “if you don’t vote on Tuesday then you have no right to complain on Wednesday.” I’ve never told anyone to vote for a particular candidate from the pulpit.
From Luke’s Gospel for today, we have the statement, “Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear.” It must be noted that the “all the people” is more than likely part of Luke’s hyperbole, for which he was known to use from time to time.
What was the great fear that seized the residents? Did Jesus instill fear into those to whom he preached and healed? I hardly think so. I think it could possibly have been a fear of violence. The sight of a herd of pigs throwing itself over a bank or cliff into a body of water and drowning seems to me to be a pretty violent act.
Were the Gerasenes afraid of how Jesus might cure someone else? Would that cure be just as violent?
There’s plenty of violence in the Old Testament, too. Just witness the Lesson from First Kings read a few minutes ago.
And there’s certainly more than enough violence to go around today in these United States of America.
I’m writing this almost 2 weeks ago. It’s Monday after the first weekend in June.
A weekend that saw no less than 10 incidents of mass shootings. A mass shooting is defined by Gun Violence Archive as an incident in which 4 or more individuals are killed or injured by gun fire during that event, excluding the one pulling the trigger.
The weekend total included at least a dozen people shot to death and more than 60 injuries, some of which were classified as critical. My source did not list the type weapon used in each case.
Here are the statistics as reported by a major news outlet:
- Socorro, Texas, five people wounded at a graduation party
- Summerton, South Carolina, one killed and at least seven others wounded at a graduation party
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, two killed and 11 others hit at an entertainment district. A third death may have been one of the shooters.
- Chattanooga, Tennessee, two killed and 14 wounded at or near a nightclub
- Phoenix, Arizona, one killed and eight wounded at a strip mall
- Mesa, Arizona, two killed and two others injured by gunfire
- Omaha, Nebraska, one killed and three wounded
- Chesterfield, Virginia, one shot to death and five others wounded
- Macon, Georgia, one killed and three others wounded
- Saginaw, Michigan, three shot to death and two wounded.
All of this came on the heels of the butchering of innocent elementary school children in Texas; the deadly assault on an Oklahoma medical facility, a racist rampage at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, and an attack on a Taiwanese church service in California.
I think enough is enough. Far more than enough.
Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not against guns per se. Actually, I’m a gun owner just like many of you. I enjoy punching holes in paper targets. I even have a replica of a weapon used during the Revolutionary War. I like to fire that thing and smell the black powder. I’m not the most accurate shot with the Brown Bess, but I’ve been known to dispatch copperhead snakes with my old single-shot .22 caliber rifle. I don’t want the poisonous snakes around where we and our dog walk.
Let’s think about the Second Amendment to our Constitution for a minute. If my memory serves me correctly, there were no police departments at that time. And firearms were a lot different. An experienced person living and hunting back then could get off three or possibly four shots a minute.
An assault rifle is rated in the number of rounds fired per second. A handgun with a magazine holding 10 bullets can be emptied in a lot less than a minute.
The House of Representatives passed a law, that among other things, raises the age of someone allowed to purchase an assault-style rifle from 18 to 21 years of age. That law is expected to fail in the U.S. Senate.
Some senators are attempting to work out a compromise that will pass muster in the senate. What is being proposed doesn’t go nearly far enough.
Assault rifles are designed to do one thing and one thing only and that is to kill or maim the target. No citizen of this country of ours has a need whatsoever to own an assault rifle.
The Federal Assault Weapons Ban was enacted in 1994, and it expired in 2004. Repeated attempts to reinstitute the ban have always failed.
It’s way past time for our legislators and congressmen and women to once again ban the ownership of assault weapons by citizens. I doubt many residents of Uvalde, Texas, would disagree with me on this.
Unfortunately in this day and age, all legislative bodies seem to agree on one thing. If the Democrats are for something, then the Republicans are against it, and conversely, if the Republicans support something, then the Democrats are required to oppose it.
How much longer are we going to remain hostage to those who have the authority to eliminate this scourge on our society? How many more massacres is it going to take before congress will stand up to the NRA and the firearms manufacturers who apparently help with the campaign financing of certain members of congress?
Maybe it’s time we the people put into office those candidates who are not beholding to the NRA or arms manufacturers and dealers.
At this point it makes absolutely no difference to me whether that candidate is a Republican or a Democrat; a Liberal or a Conservative so long as he or she stands for a total ban on assault rifles, increasing mental health services for those who probably shouldn’t have a firearm anyway, and requiring far more extensive background checks on those attempting to purchase any gun. That person will get my vote, and I hope and pray that you, too, will join me in getting that person elected.
I’m sure that many of you are familiar with Bob Dylan’s song, “Blowin in the Wind.”
The last verse is:
“Yes, and how many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
And how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, and how many deaths will it take ‘til he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend is blowin in the wind
The answer is blowin in the wind”
Maybe, just maybe, the winds of change will start blowing. It’s long overdue.