Trish Lawson's Blog

Holy Week has always been fascinating to me. The excitement of Palm Sunday, the significance of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday and the story that unfolds tugs at my heart each year. The ever-present reminder of the sacrifice that Jesus made for all of us is a gift that I believe gets taken for granted so often. We were reminded of that just this very week.

On March 27, another unnecessary mass shooting occurred at The Covenant School, a Presbyterian private school in Nashville, TN where six innocent lives were unapologetically taken by a perpetrator. The police stopped the violence. Tragedies like these are always senseless; and I am angry!

My heart breaks for the families whose lives are forever changed, the faculty and students and the PTSD that may take a front seat in their lives, and for the police that are most likely tired of fighting these battles. Enough is enough!

A week from today is Good Friday, the very day that Jesus wearing a crown of thorns, struggling to stay on his feet while he carried the very cross he would soon be nailed upon, took his last breath as an act of his love for all of us.

As a follower of Christ, I choose love over hate; I choose love over violence; I choose love over condemnation. What will it take for the Church* to respond to gun violence in this country?

No matter your race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or how you identify, the bottom line is this: You are a child of God and your life is just as precious as anyone else!

Please keep Nashville and all the other area plagued by gun violence in your prayers and meditation in the coming days.

Be the light in the dark days,

Trish

*denotes Universal Church