Horizons magazine is published by Presbyterian Women (PW) the national women’s organization of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Issue link: http://horizons.epubxp.com/i/52581
Greatly Honored Are Those Who Show Mercy! EMOTION, ACTION AND DEDICATION BY LARISSA KWONG ABAZIA For use with Lesson Five of the 2011–2012 Horizons Bible study, Confessing the Beatitudes by Margaret Aymer Scriptural Emphasis: Matthew 5:7; Luke 10:25–37 S eventy-seven. That is the final count of youth who were killed due to gun violence in Chicago during the 2010–2011 academic year. Seventy- seven senseless deaths. Seventy-seven children and teenagers who never got to have a future beyond the challenging years of adolescence. Our community came to know that number so well because of an idea from Joy Douglas Strome, pastor at Lake View Presbyterian Church (LVPC). Drawn to bring awareness to the gun violence striking down young people in the city, the prayer for peace each worship service became a time to recognize each life lost, and became a time to pray for peace on our streets. Candles stood at the front of the sanctuary; new ones were lit each week as a name from the past week was read. Sadly, names appeared almost every week. We didn't know any of the young people personally. None of them were members of our congregation or had family members who were connected to our church's ministries. Yet each worshiper was touched in different ways by this new ritual. There was power within the seemingly simple reading of names, the lighting of candles as a visible reminder of the lives lost in our city, and the praying for an end to such senseless violence. I don't think that any of us could have imagined how such a simple change to the prayer for peace would transform us. As a pastor to the congregation, I was struck by hearing the names read aloud, not once, but twice, each Sunday morning, as I was present during both our worship services. I found myself mouthing the names with the readers for the day, realizing that the names had been burned into my memory. Others looked at the candles in the front of our sanctuary as a scar—an illuminated reminder of the greater community outside the walls of our worship space. We could no longer deny that we were somehow connected to the youth and their friends and families who were affected by such violent loss. It happened organically that congregation members wanted to respond beyond lighting new candles each week. Individuals who coordinated with other churches in the area to respond to gun violence went to the state capital to protest the loss of young lives and seek better gun laws, and worked to lay the groundwork for organized responses in the future. Small actions led to the congregation's dedication to building awareness about this serious issue in Chicago. An art installation of 77 t-shirts stood on our church lawn for the whole summer of 2011. It moved the ritual outside to illuminate, for all to see, the stark reality of the loss of life in Chicago schools. Even summer vacation, so often connected with camps, trips and time with family and friends, would not keep us from remembering the young lives lost in Chicago. November/December 2011 37 Bi ble st udy resour ce Courtesy of Larissa Kwong Abazia