I talked about the fact that, like Jesus, we see people that are "like sheep without a shepherd" especially in the figure that 19% are without religious affiliation--which we might look upon simply with a touch of wistful sorrow, except that some of those sheep are heavily armed. Clearly there is something missing in many people's lives.

I also talked about the benefits of being part of God's household and being a follower of Christ: comfort in time of trouble, counsel in time of confusion, courage in time of fear.

I should have just called up Tom and cribbed everything he said. It would have been great to hear.

All my thoughts were of the specific, concrete mission of Mary Magdalene and its relationship to a world of violence and frenetic pain. Sermon here.

Torey Lightcap

I was preaching this morning on the Good Shepherd. I referred to a sermon I heard by Methodist Bishop, Sally Dyck.

Bishop Dyck presented a different image of the Good Shepherd from a stained glass window in a small country church.

This image of the Good Shepherd presents Jesus as one who is willing to go to the edge for the lost and foresaken.

I stated that our Good Shepherd was in the theatre in Aurora Friday evening admidst the confusion, terror, and pain.

Jesus went to the edge with those who were wounded and He went to the edge with the perpetrator of the violence and called to him, loved him and tried to have him cease his violent rampage.

I think you'll find that plenty of the 81% are heavily armed too.

I did NOT preach on the shootings this morning. I offered the Eucharist for the intention of the dead, the wounded, their families, first responders and the shooter. Too many have rushed to pontificate on the True Meaning of this tragedy. How about a little respectful silence for the dead, the wounded and the grieving?

I did not preach about the shootings; but I did comment on them. I stated my belief that the National Rifle Association is an enemy of the people.

Reid Hamilton

I wrote this piece yesterday morning:

HOW MANY? by dc

How many telephones rang in the middle of the night?
How many were wakened with a bad news premonition,
With all the dread and foreboding that a call at 2:38 AM engenders?
How many screamed out "Where are my pants, dammit? Where are my shoes? Where are my keys?"
How many sped to the mall, to the hospital, hearts beating wildly in their ears,
Shirts untucked, socks forgotten, teeth unbrushed?
How many prayers were recited, chanted, murmured, shouted
"Oh God, oh God, oh God"?
How many desperate and plaintive bargains,
How many self recriminations, how many angry curses
Were made behind the wheel, in the emergency room, in the parking lot?
How many wore faces streaked with rubbed-in tears mixed with snot,
Because they were in a hurry and didn't think to bring Kleenex?
How many devoutly wished that the telephone ringing at 2:38 AM
Had been only Jackson, drunk again,
Calling to cry over his unrequited love for Beth?

--Doug Curlin

I wrote this piece yesterday morning:

HOW MANY? by dc

How many telephones rang in the middle of the night?
How many were wakened with a bad news premonition,
With all the dread and foreboding that a call at 2:38 AM engenders?
How many screamed out "Where are my pants, dammit? Where are my shoes? Where are my keys?"
How many sped to the mall, to the hospital, hearts beating wildly in their ears,
Shirts untucked, socks forgotten, teeth unbrushed?
How many prayers were recited, chanted, murmured, shouted
"Oh God, oh God, oh God"?
How many desperate and plaintive bargains,
How many self recriminations, how many angry curses
Were made behind the wheel, in the emergency room, in the parking lot?
How many wore faces streaked with rubbed-in tears mixed with snot,
Because they were in a hurry and didn't think to bring Kleenex?
How many devoutly wished that the telephone ringing at 2:38 AM
Had been only Jackson, drunk again,
Calling to cry over his unrequited love for Beth?

--Doug Curlin

I haven't heard anything in a homily or sermon about the shooting, but we've been including the victims' intentions at our daily Mass.

I've also been praying for James Holmes, the shooter. Not out of maudlin sentimentality - he's a breathing advertisement for capital punishment, and only the fact that it's impossible to administer justly keeps me from hoping the prosecutors go for it in his case. But whatever the State decides to do with him, in the end his is one more life permanently effed up by his attack, and needs God's healing Presence.

According to news reports, he used to be very active in his local Presbyterian church; I wonder how many Presbyterian ministers mentioned him today?

We heard a sermon on the compassion of Jesus, for those "sheep w/o a shepherd". Our priest, explaining he was grieving not only for Aurora, but a close friend he lost (separately), asked us to emulate Jesus's compasssion, not forgetting the James Holmeses of this world. I was very moved by this homily.

JC Fisher

I alluded to it and spoke of the compassion of Jesus - how he suffers when we suffer - the LEM had the prayers and added his comment about the tragedy and used Prayer #3 - For the Human Family p. 815 in BCP. Mainly talked about being people of peace and a presence of peace in the midst of these times in church and in the world

In my sermon I suggested that our tears and sorrow are not sufficient; we should also be concerned about ourselves as a nation…We are sick. We are too violent...An evil spirit needs exorcising from our nation’s soul. Jesus has given us authority, power and courage to accomplish this.

The sermon at my church this morning was amazing. It tied together the Aurora killings with the statements made earlier in the week by George Zimmerman, that it was all "God's plan". Fr Joe echoed what I believe: that God isn't to blame for this. These people acted on their own, and think that by "blaming" God it absolves them of responsibility. He said the presence of God is seen in the coming together of community, people helping one another and lending support in a time of need. I thought it hit the nail on the head. I'm truly sick of people using the theory that all things are predestined by God, and using that as an excuse to do evil. The God I know would not have someone pick up a semi-automatic rifle and kill innocent people. They made those choices themselves, clearly without any sense of what God wanted them to do.

I preached on the lectionary reading from Mark 6 and discipleship "when life happens":

When life and death happen in the worst ways, we huddle with each other, and we huddle around Christ. “The apostles gathered around Jesus,” Mark tells us, and so should we. We huddle in this familiar place, we bring our sadness and confusion, we pray, we break bread.” In so doing, we invite the Holy Spirit into our lives, allowing the living Christ to breath his life into us anew.

Here's a link.

I quoted Verna Dozier, the Presiding Bishop and Andy Borowitz in a sermon entitled "The Fence Between Fear and Possibility." (How's THAT for a Trinity?)

"This morning what “is” is that the arsenal of weapons the gunman used to kill twelve and injure nearly sixty others were obtained legally. And what “ought to be” are reasonable gun control laws making the kind of carnage we saw in Aurora Colorado not only unimaginable but impossible. In the words of satirist Andy Borowitz – via twitter this morning: "Maybe I'm a dreamer, but I wish mental health care were as easy to get as, say, a gun."

http://inchatatime.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-fence-between-fear-and-possibility.html

The Reverend Susan Russell
All Saints Church, Pasadena

Here is the link to the Pastoral Letter that Bishop Rob O'Neill asked every church in Colorado to read from the pulpit yesterday:
http://www.dioco.org/dfc/newsdetail_2/3154513

"The greatest gift we have to offer one another is indeed our collective prayer—not merely kind wishes, not simply good intentions, but deep prayer—the ability to hold, tangibly and intentionally, others in that abundant love that flows freely and gracefully within us and among us. This has substance. This has weight and heft. This, and this alone, is the source of deep healing, lasting transformation, and enduring peace....

So please join with me in making this your intentional work today and in the days ahead, and please invite others to join you in doing the same. Remember always that in doing so, you are giving our world the gift of life."

Here's my own offering in the face of the Aurora killings.
Matthew Moretz
St. Bart's, New York City

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXK6CU0ulvY&list=UUNJDU4Dhlvo67hGnY7Jv_Yg&index=0&feature=plcp

Here's my take from a perspective slightly different than the dominant one on the cafe these days. http://emmanuelshawnee.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-eighth-sunday-after-pentecost.html

The text for my sermon, "Batman and Aurora's Darkest Valley," was Psalm 23:4:

". . . though I walk through the darkest valley . . . you are with me."

I included Mark's feeding of the 5000 in my sermon. In the middle of the sermon I related that story to the shooting in Aurora -- how we might feel overwhelmed and inadequate in the face of a world where such horrific acts take place, but how, in reality the way God responds to such acts is to take our care and concern and multiply it 1000fold so such acts of darkness are answered by many more acts of light. https://vimeo.com/46200133