It’s a small (handgun) world …

This is the week of the 9mm Glock, evidently the handgun of choice for shooting members of Congress and Vice-Principals. Thank goodness for our second amendment rights and those who fight so diligently to protect them.

That small detail is, of course, the least (though not unimportant) connection between these two headline tragedies in my world. The more significant and valuable one is our national addiction to anger. That it is a more subtle and complex relationship makes it all the more deniable, of course.

But no less real.

Is it a failure of memory, or was there once a time when anger was a bad thing? I seem to recall a day when decorum and protocol required good and gentle manners, when polite behavior was taught in schools, when bullies were avoided and not given their own talk shows on television. When did we stop teaching our children to mind their behavior and their temper? When did we stop lifting up examples of adults with impeccable conduct, gentle rhetoric and visible dignity?

I suppose you’re going to blame that on the 60’s too.

Well, are we witnessing now the far-right in its own state of acid-like hysteria?

Now the works of the flesh are obvious… enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions … and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21

Our national love of edgy commentary and impassioned demonstration at the expense of civil conduct has loosened the lid on Pandora’s box, and it’s time we quit closing our eyes to what we’re letting out. If our national political, social and religious language is not the hand holding the gun, then it is the devil’s whisper in the ear of the shooter, the flow of adrenaline in the veins, the ringing in the ears. It is the silence-gives-consent permission for the otherwise unspeakable act.

Maybe it’s time to stop before we speak any more.

For this is undeniable true - we cannot speak violence without expecting to beget violence. We cannot use violent imagery in our discourse without taking responsibility for violent acts. Angry words birth more anger. And in the end, that anger can only go to one place.

But even on this dark day I have hope, for the better way is immediately available to us. We belong to a Savior who did not respond in anger but turned another cheek, who did not raise his voice but rather stretched out his hands on a cross, who did not grasp at power but willingly acceded to the greater and better power from above. We have seen his example, we have his words, we need only bring them into our hearts and heed them.

Before it’s too late.

By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-25