On May 24, 2022, a gunman, just a kid himself, walked into a school in Uvalde, Texas and killed nineteen children and two teachers. Police response was apparently chaotic. The shooter was finally taken out by a border patrol agent carrying a borrowed shotgun. The agent was off duty. His wife was a teacher at the school and his young daughter was a student. His wife sent him a text, “Active shooter, help.” He borrowed a shotgun and rushed to the school. There he found confusion among the police, so he entered the building. When confronted with the shooter, he shot and killed him. The agent’s wife and daughter were uninjured, but the mental scars for them and many others will last forever.

         The president of the United States immediately began to call for more gun laws. Other politicians began to talk about it, as well. No one who has a bit of sense wants these killings to happen. I will tell you the truth; if gun laws can do it, I say get the laws on the books.

         Except gun laws cannot stop gun violence. It might make people feel better because they think they are accomplishing something, but they are only leaving people defenseless.

         Consider Chicago. Some of the strictest gun laws in the nation. Forty six people were shot this past weekend in Chicago. It wasn’t all in one location and it wasn’t a single shooter and it wasn’t a bunch of children so it wasn’t all over the news, but doesn’t forty six people count as a mass shooting in a city with really tough gun laws? If gun laws did the trick, Chicago should be safe enough to walk around with hundred dollar bills hanging out of your pockets. The shootings happened in various places around the city. One man was sitting in his living room watching TV when a stray bullet hit him. If it had just been a weird weekend, then you might be able to shrug it off. But this is common.

         It is not the guns.

         In Tulsa, a man walks into medical facility and opens fire. He had back surgery on May 19, just two weeks earlier, and he was still suffering pain, so he killed his doctor, one of his associates (also a doctor) and two other people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. A shooter walks into a grocery store in Buffalo, New York and shoots thirteen people, killing ten. The Tulsa shooter was upset that he had pain two whole weeks later. It is quite common for there to be pain after just twos removed from back surgery. I don’t know how old the Tulsa shooter was, but both the Uvalde and the Buffalo shooters were eighteen. In all three cases, the weapons were handled by idiots…..OH, WAIT! That is politically incorrect! You cannot call someone an idiot! Unless they are white, gainfully employed and a Christian. Those people really are idiots and a threat to Americans everywhere.   

         But, whatever, if the guns are not at fault, what is at fault? It is becoming common today to talk about mental health and those places that sell guns screening customers for mental health issues. Really? How many among us are qualified to screen for mental health issues? If it is obvious, fine. If the gun customer has a carrot stuck in his ear, which he is talking to, you don't sell him a gun. However, if it were really easy to diagnose mental health problems, we would have all kinds of different politicians. Someone is diagnosed as having mental health issues only after much testing.

         This is crazy! If gun laws do not work and if only trained mental health professionals can detect most mental health issues, what can we do to curb the violence?

         In the last five days I have heard the phrase “declining church attendance” three times on various radio programs. Not in relation to the shootings, but for other reasons. It is an accepted fact of life in America. In many churches, social issues take precedence over Biblical practice and views. When the churches become like the world, what incentive is there for people to go to church? As the moral core of the nation rots away, what is left?

         You might not see it around you, or at least you might not recognize it, but it is there. More than that, it is here. Let’s look at the Yoke.

         Barry Swanquist presented a chart at our last carry-in that showed a steady decline in attendance over the last ten years. It goes back further, but ten years is a good barometer.  Now we are half of what we were ten years ago. There are a number of reasons why, and we asked for you folks to give us your thoughts about how to stop the decline. Barely any conversation at all. Our Youth group no  longer exists. What do we do about it? Barely any conversation at all. We are finally going to restart VBS this year after the pandemic nonsense. A one day program. Who will help? A small handful. That’s all. Mostly, when I ask people outright about their thoughts, I get “Well, it’s not just us. It’s like this everywhere.” It is like this everywhere, but that does not mean that Urbana Yoke Parish has to be like that. In the New Testament, the God fearing Christians were always pushing against the status quo. In the letter to the seven churches in the Book of Revelation, chapter 3, starting at verse 14, the Lord says that He knew the works of the Laodiceans. They were neither hot nor cold. Luke warm. And then in one of the most graphic moments in Scripture, in verse 16, the Lord says he would want to vomit them out of his mouth. The Greek word is ‘emeo’ and it may be rendered in a much milder way in your Bible, but it means vomit. Being middle of the road, being ho-hum about it all, is not pleasing to the Lord.

         Church attendance is down all over the country. Preaching and teaching is watered down to the point that there is no power and the church is failing. But it doesn’t have to fail. Christians do not have to fail. The Yoke doesn’t have to fail.

        If you can help with VBS, talk to Claud Newcomb. If you have thoughts on a Youth leader, talk to Chris Hann. If you want to talk about the decline in attendance, come talk to me. You may say that attendance does not reflect the Spirituality of a church, and you would be right to a point. But it is a symptom.

        Other than prayer, we cannot help those poor families in Uvalde or Tulsa or Buffalo. We can't help those people who are victims of mass shootings that happen weekly in Chicago and New York City. But we can start right here, at home, and reach into our own mission field.