The devastating mass shooting and arson attack at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Michigan on September 28th shook us to the core. As the Episcopal Diocese of Idaho, our first commitment is to mourn with those who mourn. We stand in profound solidarity with The Church of the Latter-day Saints, our fellow travelers, the victims and their families, navigating this trauma. Yet, our Gospel mandate compels us to mourn the perpetrator as well—a sibling in Christ whose soul was lost in darkness. We pray for justice for the victims and for the radical conversion of those with evil hearts, and their families that struggle with the choices of their loved ones!.
I must, however, speak plainly about the instruments of death. A gun is designed for one purpose: to take life. It is not a tool for recreation or sport; even in recreation, the ultimate intention is lethal—the target, in the end, is life itself. There can be no spiritual justification for the deliberate destruction of God’s sacred breath. The commandment is clear and absolute: “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13). To commit violence is the ultimate act of spiritual blindness.
Such violence, born of contempt and hate, flows from a deep darkness within. It mirrors the arrogance condemned in the wisdom literature: “A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back” (Proverbs 29:11). The heart embracing cruelty has become blind to its own humanity. The great mistake, as Mary Oliver reminds us, is to think “that we can make a difference without fundamentally changing ourselves.”
We are called not merely to condemn the actions, but to recognize the urgency of the Gospel’s call for self-sacrificing love. We must work to heal the spiritual sickness in our culture that allows anyone to see another human being as an enemy. Let us pray tirelessly for the conversion of all hearts, knowing that the light of Christ is the only force capable of overcoming such darkness.