It has been a difficult couple of weeks for our nation. We have suffered through multiple mass shooting events. Two in particular by teenage males, a racially motivated in Buffalo and the shooting of school children in Texas, have been shattering. We are in pain. We know we need to do something, but we’ve known that for a long time and nothing seems to change.

The majority of people in this country want to change things, want to see these killings stop. But a small group of people in power, leading a wedge group of American society, see advantage in the deaths and will not help. What can we do as citizens? What can we do as Christians?

This week’s Gospel reading, once again from St. John’s account of what happened the night of Jesus’ betrayal and denial by his companions, gives us a hint of what to do. People who, in our history, have taken Jesus’ words to heart and lived them with their lives have made a profound difference again and again. I talk about this in the sermon below.

It doesn’t require all of us to do this to make a change. It only needs a small portion of the community. Maybe just one of us is enough. But it’s worked before. I think we should try now.