Simon’s Says
It’s been a difficult week in the world of faith. On Sunday morning a congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the Mormon Church) in Grand Blanc, Michigan was assaulted by a gunman who, after crashing his truck into the building, drew an assault rifle, shot two churchgoers to death, then set the building ablaze, killing another two parishioners. (Adding insult to injury, the attack took place a day after the national LDS leader, Russell M. Nelson, passed away.) The attack was fueled by the shooter’s admitted and oft-voiced hatred for Mormons, stemming in part from a failed romantic relationship with a Mormon earlier in his life. Recent years have taught us that places of worship are not the sanctuaries of safety they were once thought to be. [We will speak more about this on Sunday.]
Then just yesterday, the end of the High Holy Days for our Jewish siblings, worshipers at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Manchester, England were attacked by an assailant who ran his vehicle into their midst, emerged with a knife and killed two people and left three with serious injuries. The assailant was shot and killed by police, and three accomplices have been arrested. In neither instance did any of the victims or their related co-parishioners do anything to provoke the attacks, they just happened to be folks at worship, much like you and I on a regular basis. The hatred and violence are numbing.
In a bit of good news though, the Church of England (Anglican fellowship) has a new bishop in London, The Right Rev. Sarah Mullally. She is the first female Archbishop of Canterbury in the 1400 year history of the office. Talk about breaking the venerable stained-glass ceiling! If the Archbishop of Canterbury sounds familiar to you, it may be because Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales are centered around a pilgrimage to the shrine of Thomas Becket, who held the position in the 12th century. The appointment of Rev. Mullally will surely ripple through the Anglican fellowship and its American counterpart, the Episcopal Church. We celebrate the historic choice with our Episcopal friends and neighbors.
Links to Sunday’s bulletin and service are here: