Donkey Speaks

Invitation to Confession

Leader: We come before the throne of God acknowledging the reality of sin. It is not merely our own sin which we confess, but God calls us to also be intercessors confessing the sin of the world. Our sin is magnified in the systems, institutions and alliances we form and the sin of the world finds fertile soil in the ground of our being. Our only hope, and the hope of all the world,  is to face our sinful nature honestly, to repent wholeheartedly, and to open ourselves and our world to the grace and mercy of God.

Prayer of Confession (Unison) (based on Psalm 52 The Voice)

O Lord our God forgive us as we stir up trouble over trifles when it is your unfailing love that should concern us. Our tongues can be as sharp as razors used to slash and tear into the soul of those we encounter in the world. We have fallen in love with evil and have no interest in what is good. We have fallen in love with lies and prefer those lies to speaking what is true. We are beguiled by thoughts and actions which destroy for we have equated destruction with power and have confused vanity with glory.

Have mercy, God, and bring to us your justice and your mercy. Snatch us away from the grasp of evil doers and shield our minds from the onslaught of lies. Let us not delight in the destruction of others, but in all humility recognize and repent of the destruction which dwells within us.

May we, Loving God, place our trust anew in you, the one True God, and live in your kind love all of our days. Humbly, we lay our lives before you, thankful that you receive us as we are and can make us what we were created to be, the people who live the truth of Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.

Silent Prayer of Confession

Assurance of Pardon

Leader: God knows who we are, who we really are. God knows us better than we even know ourselves. So listen and believe the good news: God loves us as we are and provides in Jesus Christ the means to become what we were created to be. God forgives our sin and lays a better life before us. Friends, this is the Good News: In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven!

People: Thanks be to God!

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”  (Preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America)

Our constitution establishes lofty ideals. Unity. Justice. Tranquility. Common Defense. General Welfare. The Blessings of Liberty. These were lofty ideals for the people of the time in which it was written. It is a legacy passed along and entrusted to each subsequent generation. A legacy intended for succeeding generations to receive, preserve and improve for the generations of Americans who will follow.

The founders began the American experiment, yet it continues as a gift new to each generation which accepts the inheritance. Each successive generation of Americans is charged with continuing the creation of the more perfect union envisioned.

Such a legacy is not merely to enrich us by reaping its benefits. The gift is a trust accompanied by enormous responsibility. Only as we advance the ideals for all people does the American experiment survive. Each person who calls this nation home is called also to see that the experiment survives and thrives as it is nudged ever closer toward that more perfect union.

Throughout our history we have faced enormous challenges threatening to destroy the experiment. 

We fought a bloody Civil War to protect the Union and to share the blessings of liberty, freeing those who had been held in bondage. Succeeding generations carried on this trust as they moved to increase civil rights for all people. At their best they faced squarely and honestly the hatred of discrimination and violence that hatred engendered. Rejecting the vile stench of racism and inequality,  they made progress toward a more perfect union. There is still much work to be done.

We have been enticed by demagogues who breach the domestic tranquility,  enflaming fears and prejudices which are themselves reminders that our union is not yet perfect. Lacking decency, with commitment only to self and self promotion, they hew away at the very foundations of our republic. 

Successive generations arose, championing unpopular truth in the face of popular lies, rescuing the nation from the siren call of pseudo-patriotism that threatened to dash our great national experiment on the barren rocks of failure.

Our American forbearers entrust to our care a profound legacy. If we only celebrate their past victories and revel in their passing glory, we miss the point and purpose of their dreams and sacrifice. Our experiment survives only as we take up the cause today,  forsaking personality and party to embrace the higher calling of America.

Today we are called to a renewed commitment to truth, a renewed passion for the common good, a reinvigorated vision to become the more perfect union whose unfolding reality the founders entrusted to us. We are called, not to force of arms, but engagement in the public square and at the ballot box with such unity of purpose that we will ensure this noble experiment called the United States of America shall not perish. 

Our American experiment survives as we the people find the courage to renew our commitment to that which unites and defines us. Unity. Justice. Tranquility. Common Defense. General Welfare. The Blessings of Liberty. A commitment to work together toward a more perfect union. 

I fear we are squandering our legacy and will leave nothing but dim reminders of the promise that was America to our posterity. Have we become so jaded and complacent that we no longer care? Has timidity replaced courage so we will no longer stand for what is right and fair and honest and good? Are we so disillusioned that we will no longer rise to heed the clarion call of our better angels?

It remains to be seen if we will, as our ancestors before us, rise to meet the powers aligned against us and embrace once again the promise and responsibility that is the essence of the American experiment.

Speaking at a National Rifle Association convention, Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas said: “The problem is not guns, it’s hearts without God.”

Let me say that he is right.

Dr. Roy Guerrero, a Uvalde, Texas, pediatrician speaking before a House committee told of his experience seeing the bodies of children following the violence at Robb Elementary School: “What I saw there was something no prayer will ever relieve. Two children whose bodies had been pulverized by bullets fired at them, decapitated, whose flesh had been ripped apart. The only clue about their identities was blood-spattered cartoon clothes still clinging to them, clinging for life and finding none.”

The problem is not guns. It is a society that so worships the gun that it allows children to be massacred and still clings to the gun. It is hearts whose god is the idol created of a weapon designed to maim and kill in the most grotesque way possible. It is hearts who have pushed aside the God of kindness, grace and mercy.

A common phrase in prayers of confession is, “Merciful God, we have sinned against you by what we have done and by what we have left undone.”

When we know what is right and choose to do what is wrong, we sin. The person who picks up a gun and slays another – or in so many cases in our nation, a whole host of others – is a killer, guilty of violating the Sixth Commandment.

When we know what is right and fail to take action, we sin. If we stand silently by and allow this carnage to happen over and over and over and over again; if we continue to allow gun violence to be the number one killer of our children; if we know we must change, and do nothing; if we allow this carnage to continue because guns are sacrosanct, we, too, are murderers. We, too, are guilty of violating the Sixth Commandment by our inaction.

The problem is not the inanimate object of the gun. It is the hearts of a nation that will not show the compassion and courage to do anything about the gun.

It is not that we do not have the desire.

The Pew Research Foundation found that 81% of Americans support background checks, including at gun shows. And 81% of Americans believe it is important to keep guns out of the hands of people with mental illness.

Some 64% believe we should ban high-capacity ammunition magazines. And 63% agree there should be a ban on assault weapons.

Clearly, a majority of our citizens believe we should take substantial steps to institute the “well-regulated” clause in the Second Amendment. Yet, nothing gets done.

We have given thoughts and prayers almost daily in the 10 years since Sandy Hook and nothing gets done. “Merciful God, we have sinned against you by what we have left undone.”

What we have done is reduce restrictions that would prevent those with mental illness from obtaining guns. What we have done is end requirements for permits to carry concealed weapons. What we have done is given liability protection to gun manufacturers. What we have done is deflect any meaningful debate on guns in our nation. What we have done is block anything that might make a real difference.

“Merciful God, we have sinned against you by what we have done.”

We can and should admit we have problems of mental health, racial prejudice, anger, hate and a rising propensity to violence.

We must also admit there is a problem with guns, guns and more guns.

We have a problem in our society that allows battlefield weapons to be easily and readily available to anyone who wants them. We have a problem in our nation as we see our fellow citizens slain day after day, and our children’s bodies being destroyed beyond recognition. We have a problem when we know something must be done and will not insist – insist – that our political representatives do something. We have a problem in that we elect over and over and over again politicians who chant “Guns and God” when what they really mean is: “Guns are god.”

The old cartoon character Pogo once said, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” The problem is not with guns. It is the heart of a nation that refuses to do anything about guns.

If we believe in a God of love, a God of compassion, a God who calls us to act with kindness and justice for all, and we do nothing, it is a problem of a heart without God.