In the wake of events in Arizona, as non-political as I claim to be, I find myself increasingly disgusted with the nature of political dialogue in this nation.  Now I have no problem with people disagreeing with me, but there is no need to be disagreeable.  And there is certainly no need to incite violence.  The pundits claim that their use of what they call metaphorical language is not responsible for for what happened, only the shooter is.
This is nothing more than a blatant attempt to avoid responsibility for their words.

We have long known that if you tell a child he or she is "worthless" long enough and loudly enough, they will believe it.  Words have power.  It is the power of words that keeps the O'Reillys, Palins, Becks, and Olbermans of the world in business.  They may not have been directly responsible, but gasoline on a fire only increases its ferocity.  To deny that they have any responsibility is to deny words have power.  And to deny that words have power is to deny reality.

And now to the other side of the coin.  How do we forgive the young  shooter?  How do we forgive those who incited him?  Forgive we must, the Lord we worship requires it.  I have said many times that forgiveness is the hardest thing we do as Christians--and the most important.  I'm not sure how I will forgive all those who broought us to this place, but with God's help, I will find a way.  I pray you may too.
Blessings,
ChaplainDann