Dear Ones,
I am deeply saddened by news of the shooting this morning at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, CA that has claimed the lives of two teenagers and injured three more. As is often the case in the immediate aftermath of such horrific events, we know very little about the shooter’s motivations and more details will doubtless be revealed in the coming days and weeks. And as is often the case, we will hear the usual litany of outrage and anger from our leaders, the same offering of thoughts and prayers for the victims and their families, and the same hopeless resignation in the face of our nation’s inaction and apathy. Then the memory fades and the pain dulls until the next shooting occurs, and we repeat the same cycle over and over again.
We are a people who pray, and so we do offer our prayers. We grieve for the loss of life, and we lift up the victims and their families and walk alongside them in this time of unfathomable pain and loss. But as I have quoted so many times in the past: “The prayers are not for God, the prayers are for us.”
We must be willing to act. We must be willing to do something so that this stops being the new normal. I’m including links below for ways that you can act to help put an end to this epidemic of gun violence that is claiming the lives of so many of our children.
Blessings,
+Greg
From the Episcopal Office of Government Relations:
- https://www.votervoice.net/iframes/EPISCOPAL/Campaigns/66921/Respond
- https://www.episcopalchurch.org/OGR/action-alerts?vvsrc=%2fcampaigns%2f64432%2frespond
Webinar for Youth:
Bishops Against Gun Violence: Includes a Litany to be used after a Mass Shooting:
After the March for Our Lives and Actions That Might Be Taken:
Alliance for Gun Responsibility:
Other Resources:
