It is indeed a strange time as we enter the finale of the Lenten Season with Palm and Easter Sundays fast approaching, and we have not met in person for a solid year. The grief and loss as a result of Covid deserves the serious attention that Good Friday invites as well as our imagination around rebirth that Easter brings. But in the “in between,” we sit with the immense heaviness, disappointment, and fear of 7 public shootings in as many days, at least one of them racially motivated. Then my mother in law sent us the following headline: “Atlanta police detain man with five guns, body armor in grocery store.” The man was white, heavily armed, and I want to draw your attention to the word “detain.” We cannot deny that had this man been someone of color, he would have been shot on site. I’m not necessarily calling for his death, but waking up to the reality to too often giving the white male the benefit of the doubt with platitudes like “he had a bad day” while his counterpart, the unarmed black man, is considered a deadly threat. There is a feeling of impotence and immobility as we watch the violence around us unfold and our policies do nothing to lessen the use of deadly weapons in the hands of individuals. We have normalized this kind of violence to a psychotic degree.

We are being invited, not so gently, to examine America’s addiction to violence and retributive justice. Martin Luther King, Jr. sagely observed that the three interwoven evils in American society are racism, poverty, and militarism - all of which are outcomes of scarcity and fear mindsets. Ordinary Life certainly seeks to give us the wisdom to live with expansive values that help us develop an adult faith and take personal responsibility for our lives. Can we imagine taking these personal values to influence social rebirth and transformation?

I don’t know that we offer any concrete answers, but certainly there is much for us to contemplate as we consider the fundamental questions of “How shall we live?” and “What is the value of a human life?”

Thanks for listening, and remember: No class until Sunday, April 11. Also, if you have thoughts about what you’d like to hear from us in the near future, please reach out to Bill at billkerley@mac.com.