Tragedy in Tucson: An All-Too-Real Parable Unfolding

Last updated on: January 10, 2011 at 5:32 pm by Laura Rose

7 Comments

Tragedy in Tucson: An All-Too-Real Parable Unfolding 2011-01-10T17:32:07+00:00 Laura Rose

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The tragedy in Tucson this week has brought us once again to the brink of asking all the right questions. What is it going to take for us to wake up to the truth that hateful and violent speech leads to hateful and violent actions? A parable has unfolded before our eyes this week. The question is whether we will heed its message.

A democratic congresswoman convened a “Congress on Your Corner” meeting with her constituents and was gunned down. Democracy at its best is violently under attack and fighting for its life in our world today.

A Federal judge stopped by the rally to thank his colleague across the aisle for their work together on a common goal regarding “border” issues and he is gunned down. The potential fruits of bi-partisanship left to die on the vine.

A 9-year old girl, just elected to her student council attended the rally with a neighbor to learn more about politics with the hope that one days she could bring people together. Could there be any more light-filled symbol of humanity’s hope for the future than a child seeking to learn about how to participate in the democratic process?

And if that were not enough, we quickly learned just hours after her death that Christina Taylor Green was born on 9/11 and featured in a book called Faces of Hope: Babies born on 9/11. Christina died on 1/8/11. Add it up: 8+1=9/11. Christina was 9 and she died in 2011. I’m not into numerology but… Add it up. We missed the wake-up call on 9/11. Will we as a nation heed it nine years later?

How many times does the rooster have to crow before we wake up the sun? Civil speech leads to civil actions. Can we heed the call to stop using our words as “weapons” and find a way to use them as tools for constructive action with those who are across the aisle and across the street? Can we meet at the border of our ideological differences and build bridges based on our common goals?

In memory of Christina Taylor Green, for the sake of all our children, will we heed the call the wake-up call or will be hit the snooze alarm? Will we listen to the voice of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. whose birthday we celebrate next week crying out in the wilderness of our incivility warning us about the kind of verbal warfare that kills both soul and body?

“Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man’s sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true…

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction….The chain reaction of evil–hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars–must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation. Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength To Love, 1963.

A parable is unfolding in our world today and it is no fairy tale story with a magic ending. Too many innocent lives have been lost. Too many families are grieving. Only we have the power to decide whether this will be a turning point in our public discourse and politics or a descending spiral.

We can heed the call to love our neighbor as we love ourselves which for Dr. King had everything to do with how we conduct ourselves in the public square and call our national leaders to account or we can turn our backs on this call.

Across the country, we can stop hitting the snooze button and we can wake up to civility. We can meet on the street corner, in the library and at City Hall and begin a new kind of respectful conversation seeking to work together on goals we hold in common. I can’t envision a better way to honor Dr. King or those who died in Tucson on their way to participating in the democratic process.

A parable is unfolding and we have a chance to write the rest of the story. Each of us have the power to influence what will happen next. Will we allow this, the hope of civil discourse and democracy, to live or to die? Will we wake up the sun and see the light? That is the question before us and it is a matter of life and death.

Rev. Laura Rose is the senior pastor of First Congregational Church in Alameda, CA, and an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

January 10, 2011

Demon-Possessed Politics

Next Post

January 12, 2011 A Prayer With Haiti

Recent Comments

7 Comments | Leave a Comment

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Advent Author Interviews Battle Over the Body and Blood of Christ Bearing Beauty Book Reviews Christian Education christian spirituallity christianity Christmas Church Church Leadership Contemplation Creation Care Death and Dying Death Penalty Disruptive Change Disruptors Series Easter Education Evolution and Faith Future of Progressive Christianity Gun Violence Health & Wellness Holy Week Interfaith Israel-Palestine Leading Differently Lent LGBTQ Living with Cancer Meditations on the Cross Mental Illness millennials Mimetic Mondays Monday Meditations Movie Reviews New Monasticism Pando Populus Parenting Patheos 10+1 Q&A Series PC(USA) Politics Pop Culture Practical Theology Series Prayer progressive christian Race Relations Reformation religion Religion and Politics Religion in America Rethink Church Social Justice Spirituality Spirituality of the Body Stump a Scholar Technology and Faith Thanksgiving Theodicy Trust Me Church Uncategorized Why I'm Still Christian Youth Ministry

Select a Month December 2025 April 2025 January 2025 September 2023 September 2022 May 2022 February 2022 January 2022 November 2021 October 2021 May 2021 February 2021 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 June 2020 May 2020 March 2020 June 2019 March 2019 January 2019 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which city was destroyed by fire and brimstone along with Gomorrah?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Jericho Babylon Nineveh Sodom