Tuesday, April 3, 2007

"He had done no violence"

This just off the press:

ATLANTA (AP) -- There's been a shooting inside the Atlanta building where C-N-N is headquartered.A man and a woman were shot, in what police describe as a "domestic situation."An Atlanta police officer says the two were arguing inside the building when the man pulled out a gun and shot the woman. He says the man was then shot by a C-N-N security guard.Video footage showed police pointing a gun at a man lying on the ground inside a building.A man who'd been helping take down a stage in a park that was used for Final Four festivities says he "heard four or five shots" and then "got out of there quick."

Such incidents seem to be happening with increasing frequency. This awful story follows hard on the heels of a similar shooting yesterday at the University of Washington School of Architecture in Seattle. A man and a woman were found dead in an office in what appeared to be a murder-suicide.

We are left to wonder what led these people to think that violence is a solution to their disputes. The tragedy of such actions is painful, as their lives were surely also painful prior to their deaths. There are other solutions, other answers, other paths, but they chose their own path.

Violence has long been part of the human experience, ever since the first murder. That too was domestic violence, as it was Cain, whose sin was the murder of his brother Abel. Jesus came to reverse the effects of sin, and as a result he suffered a violent death on the Cross. Then . . .

They made his grave with the wicked
and his tomb with the rich,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Isaiah 53:9, NRSV



Pastor Linda+
The Rev. Linda McCloud
Founding Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org

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