Circles of Remembrance: The Pulse Tragedy, One Year Later
“Our cities share a common heartache.”
That was my response to a bishop in London, England, who offered prayers for us and for the service in remembrance of Pulse from the Anglican Diocese of London. We do share this burden–along with Manchester, New York City, Paris and other places around the world too numerous to count.
And yet, as we gather one year later, I want to say we have several reasons to celebrate, reasons that swell like circles from the proverbial stone dropped in water. Yes, the stone of the Pulse tragedy was horrific. But let’s look at the circles:
- Resilience: One year after the massacre, we can celebrate Orlando’s resilience—because we were not afraid to speak up, to stand together, to face, in fact, some of the criticism from those who felt embarrassed that this happened on a Latino night at a gay nightclub.
How can one not respond to such an unspeakable act of horror? To be silent is to acquiesce. To speak out, but better yet, to act with compassion in the face of such violence is to declare in a very clear way that God has made humanity for something better than degradation and violence.
- Hope: And this is our hope, the longing for something new that I believe is a part of what God has put into the heart of so many. Without hope, we are the most miserable and naive of people. Without hope, the cynic looks at us and says, “You know, it never gets any better—and you’ve just got to learn how to live through it.” And while learning how to live through it is better than being absorbed by it, I want to say that there is yet another circle.
- Courage: And that next circle is courage. It’s a way of living through our circumstances where God puts within us that kind of poise, that kind of vitality that supernaturally works within us the capacity to reach out, to say no to the fear (even though it is certainly), to stand in the midst of others who might feel more afraid than we do and step out anyway.
Yes, hope causes ordinary human beings to rise with courage beyond the norm and perform acts of heroism, grace and kindness even in the face of atrocity. And that courage rises from yet another circle that I believe God has put in our DNA.
- A Longing for Eternity: Yes, by the grace of God, we have within us a longing for something bigger and deeper, more beautiful and more at rest than anything we presently know. Where does that come from if not heaven itself? Why would we even hope for something we have not seen had not God put in us a longing that comes from his heart and speaks of that place where there is no pain, no grief, where God in fact wipes away every tear from every eye? A place of extraordinary light, where death and violence are but a very, very dim memory? The hunger for that place is what divinity has put within mortal humanity: a longing for eternity.
But as important as all these circles are, they’re empty without the heart of God–which forms the water into which the stone of the Pulse tragedy–or any other event, traumatic or otherwise–is dropped. Out of that comes yet another circle.
- The capacity to forgive and to be forgiven: Henri Nouwen, one of my favorite authors, says, “Forgiveness stands at the center of God’s love for us and also in the center of our love for each other.”
You see, the divisions and the brokenness are not just “out there.” They’re also “in here,” inside the places in my heart that I wish weren’t there, those things that happen inside my mind even if I don’t act upon them. The prayer book calls these “the things that we have done as well as left undone.”
But even in the worst of those inner situations, something invites us into the call both to forgive and to be forgiven. What allows us to stand in the presence of God and receive his supernatural power is the prevenient, preeminent mercy and forgiveness that comes to us unbidden.
This is what God has shown us in his Son. Because amidst the horror of Roman oppression of Israel, the slaughter of people for no reason at all, Jesus continued to look at both victim and perpetrator and to speak words for and of forgiveness–so that yes, forgiveness stands at the center of God’s love.
And if forgiveness is what pushes through the very heart of God, there is, in fact, hope for humanity. Forgiveness gives us the capacity to live with courage, the poise to be able to say no to fear and to do what we can, with God’s help, to step out in love.
With all my heart, I believe that’s what the Scripture teaches. So regardless of what this community faces, we’ll have resilience, but not a resilience based on determination and resentment. That only gets you so far. Not even a resilience based on determining to choose to do the right thing. Because that, too, only gets you so far.
Instead, we’ll have the resilience that comes out of hearts that are being changed by God so that we can be, as St. Francis would say, “instruments of your peace.” So that in the worst of difficulties, we may love, not with the fragility of our own human hearts, but with a courage and a grace that goes beyond our own internal prejudices, our own incapacities.
Because it is that love that conquers death. It is that love that raised Jesus from the dead. It is that love that gives us the courage, the resilience, the determination and the grace to be here, and to choose by God’s mercy to be a witness of love in this community. Not just on Orlando United Day, but, buoyed by the prayers of many across this planet, every day, even when we don’t feel like it. Because his love is stronger than anything.
What circles have you seen expanding out from the Pulse or other tragedies? Share this blog and your response on Twitter. Please include my username, @revgregbrewer.
(This post is an adaption of Bishop Brewer’s message on June 11, 2017, at the Vigil in Remembrance of Pulse at the Cathedral Church of St. Luke, Orlando.)
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.