We Stand with the LGBTQ+ Community!
Dear Friends,
With the shootings at an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs last weekend, we face another horrific act of violence against a marginalized minority group, demonstrating an increasing willingness to use deadly force to foster hatred. According to the New York Times, there were over 600 shootings recorded in which at least four people were killed or injured so far this year in the United States. With 20 shootings resulting in five or more fatalities each, the Colorado Springs shooting added another tragic data point to this frightening statistic. The fact that we may be talking in terms of statistical data rather than a disastrous outrage is telling. Where is the emotional response that lasts longer than the few hours or days we may dedicate toward this tragedy before the news cycle overwhelms us with new accounts drawing our attention?
Have We Become Numb?
I don't know about you, but sometimes I ask myself: "Have we, individually and as a community, become numb to the reality that people are attacked and killed for belonging to a particular race or ethnicity, expressing their religious or even political beliefs, or living freely within or outside of our evolving cultural norms?" Where is the outrage, the sense of unity, the willingness to protect not only our right to live peacefully among each other but that of others as well? Why is it that we barely make it a whole week before we are distracted with something rather mundane in comparison?
Numbness is often a sign of an inability or unwillingness to tap into the feelings we experience. In stressful situations, numbness allows us to operate and protect ourselves against immediate threats, a helpful defense mechanism to ensure our survival. However, outside of life-threatening situations, numbness prevents us from adequately identifying our thought and feeling nature to a point we may miss relevant information to inform our actions. This is like cutting ourselves deep enough to threaten infection but entirely ignoring it in the hope it will get better.
As such, numbness is an opportunity for a reality check, a moment in time when we ought to be real with ourselves and each other. Numbness is an opportunity to take it a step further than leaving it at the conventional "our thoughts and prayers are with you." Especially now, as we are approaching Thanksgiving, this opportunity is at hand for all of us.
A Thanksgiving Opportunity
Of course, we will hold everyone impacted by the shootings in Colorado Springs in our thoughts, feelings, and prayers. We will also include those who suffered from previous shootings or have been violently attacked and discriminated against in the past. We will show solidarity with those who may feel vulnerable right now. And, we will do so openly and without hesitation.
Here are just a couple of ideas about what actions we can take:
We can reach out to the LGBTQ+ nightclub community in Colorado Springs and tell them we love them as our neighbors and stand with them.
We can call our LGBTQ+ friends and let them know that we appreciate them for who they are and that they add meaning to our lives.
We search our thoughts and feelings and do whatever we can to establish harmony within ourselves and those with whom we struggle.
We demonstrate the unity we all believe in and find one or more opportunities this week to act upon it.
We embrace our diversity and let others know we appreciate them for who they are.
You may also want to join us on Insight Timer (search for Unity Fort Worth) at 10 PM CT to meditate and pray together for Peace and Harmony in ourselves and the world.
Humility Leads to Unity, Which Leads to Peace
Mother Teresa once said, "Only humility will lead us to unity, and unity will lead us to peace." To break through the numbness, we must become vulnerable and claim the reality we experience, not the one we would like to present to ourselves and others, but that which is real in our hearts and minds. It is that act of being honest and humble, even if we do not like what we see, that brings true Strength to ourselves and those for whom we care. It is no accident that one of Jesus Christ's primary teachings in the Beatitudes is about the very act of humility itself: "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5). As we find humility along the way to Unity and Peace, we will inherit the earth together.
Affirmation
Let us affirm that we find it in our hearts and minds to step back for a moment and appreciate the reality of our thoughts and feelings to inform the actions we are willing to take this week. We will not resign to any feelings of emptiness and instead step forward with a mighty faith to give thanks to those who need it most right now. We stand together with our friends in the LGBTQ+ community, and we let them know that they are loved, supported, and recognized for how important they are to our lives. We love them, we appreciate them, and we behold the Christ they are. And so it is. Amen.
With much Love and Gratitude...Happy Thanksgiving,
Rev. Jean-Marie Schweizer
Senior Minister Unity Fort Worth