wfn.org | Churches pray for victims, peace in wake of shootings

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Oct. 7, 2002 News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
10-71B{455}

By the Rev. Erik Alsgaard*

ROCKVILLE, Md. (UMNS) - An estimated 100 people gathered for a candlelight
prayer vigil on the front lawn of the Millian Memorial United Methodist
Church in Rockville Oct. 5, to prayer for peace, healing and hope in the
wake of a spree of area shootings.

Six people died as a result of the shootings, five in Montgomery County,
Maryland, and one in Washington. A shooting of a 13-year-old outside a
Middle School in Bowie on the morning of Oct. 7 was being investigated to
determine if it was connected to the other shootings. The victims included a
United Methodist layman.

"We felt a need to do something, to have the faith community make a
statement," said the Rev. Marcus Matthews, Washington West District
superintendent. Most of the shootings occurred in that district. "We're a
praying people, and this is what we have to offer: the power of prayer."

Matthews said he hoped this shooting spree would prompt people of faith to
action. "With this happening in our own back (yard) now, I think people are
beginning to react different. Reality is, we know this happens all over the
world, and as a church we have been silent too long. I think it's time for
the church to speak out. When it happens to one, it happens to all of us."

Part of the reason for the vigil, said the Rev. Doug Sands, chair of the
conference's committee on drugs and violence and pastor of Simpson-Hamline
United Methodist Church in Washington, is that God's people need to come
together. 

"We are not only here to come in sympathy and accord for the loss of life in
our communities, but also to remind ourselves that we are the church, the
church of Jesus Christ," Sands said. "We are disciples of the one who has
left us the commandment to love God, to love each other, and also that
matchless commandment to love our enemies. We yearn for justice just as much
as we yearn for mercy." 

"I must confess, I had a genuine sense of outrage," said Tim Warner,
director for Holy Boldness ministries for the Baltimore-Washington
Conference, when he heard of the shootings. "I'm sure most of you probably
shared in that sense of outrage." 

Warner wondered what the response of the church should be. "Should we be in
a hurry to go," he asked, "and each of us find a hunting rifle and go
chasing after this person? Should we even be so concerned about lethal
injection or electric chair in this kind of a situation?"

He said the Lord reminded him of 2 Corinthians 10. "We make war on the
floor; God's people pray," he said. "God's people beseech the power that's
greater than any bullet, that's greater than any gun. Power that transforms
lives, power that raises people from the 'gutter-most' of life's existence
to the 'utter-most' of God's glory. That kind of power, each of us has
access to."

Gloria Williams, a member of the Millian Memorial United Methodist Church
since 1974, came to the vigil because the shootings happened two blocks from
where she lives, and the mobile police headquarters is set up a block from
her house. "All of this is just so near," she said. "My faith is important
all the time, but particularly right now. We just need all the prayer we can
have."

"We're not going to be a people of fear. We are a people of love and
compassion who reach out. Love is stronger than any hate," said the Rev.
Connie Paulson, pastor of Millian Memorial United Methodist Church since
1998. "It's very inspirational to see people of faith come together."
 
The dead include James Martin, 55, an active member of Ashton (Md.) United
Methodist Church. He was killed in the parking lot of a grocery store Oct.
2.

"My hope is that our response to this violence will be that instead of
destroying community, we can have a renewal of feeling the pain of others,"
said the Rev. Jeff Jones, pastor of Ashton. "We need to help each other out;
to move to being more engaged in our communities from being less engaged.
Crisis and danger can happen at any time. All life is precious."
 
Martin was the vice chairman of the church's board of trustees. According to
Jones, Martin's wife, Billie, teaches Sunday school and plays in the
hand-bell choir. Their son, Ben, is in the youth group. Before joining
Ashton, the Martins were longtime members at Glenmont United Methodist
Church in Wheaton, Md.
 
Bishop Felton Edwin May of the Baltimore-Washington Conference issued a
statement Oct. 4 in the wake of the violence. "On behalf of the
Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference, I extend profound sympathy to the
family of James Martin for the senseless murder and untimely death of this
exemplary United Methodist layman. I feel a personal grief at this loss of a
precious life. Indeed, we grieve and express our sympathies for all the
precious lives taken from us in these terrible shootings. They heighten our
awareness and rub our sensitivities raw to the harsh reality of attacks and
murders - both indiscriminate and intentional - that occur daily in
communities throughout our region, our nation and our world. 

"The commandment 'Thou shalt not kill' rings loud and clear as a call from
God for us to refrain from and oppose violence - even the threat of
pre-emptive violence - against human beings anywhere in the world," said the
bishop. "It simply cannot and should not be tolerated by people of God. What
we should all feel on this somber occasion is holy grief; that is, not
merely sorrow but also the expression of love, compassion and active concern
for the sacred lives of all human beings as an affirmation of our faith and
obedience to God."

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*Alsgaard is managing editor of UM Connection, the newspaper of the United
Methodist Church's Baltimore-Washington Conference.

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United Methodist News Service
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