From Inspires On-Line
WE STAND WITH ORLANDO
The Rt Rev Dr John Armes, Bishop of Edinburgh, joined
hundreds of people last night (15 June) in a vigil to
‘Stand with Orlando’ held in St Andrew’s Square,
Edinburgh.
Bishop John reflects:
“It is hard to estimate numbers. There must have been
500 or more of us, including a redoubtable band of
Episcopalians, gathered in the rain in St Andrew’s
Square last night. Many more in Scotland and around
the world have stated their solidarity with the victims of
the outrage at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. It
was the worst mass shooting in the USA, a macabre
record in that land of the gun. 49 dead, 50 injured, families traumatised. A
gunman professing some kind of extremist faith – a depraved sense of
‘divine’ vengeance persuading him to impose death on LGBTI human beings
enjoying life.
“Our world feels ugly at the moment. Foul rhetoric demonising difference.
Lust for power without responsibility. Tunnel-visioned ignorance
masquerading as idealism. Walls dividing ‘us’ from ‘them’; barriers
bequeathed to our children and children’s children. Fear on fear; fear
breeding fear. None of this peculiar to the USA, even if their daft gun laws
seem to invite mayhem.
“All these thoughts weighed me down last night. We sang of solidarity; of not
being overcome by evil. Names of the victims were read; silence was kept.
Politicians and others spoke of the need to stand together, of love being
love, of love always winning in the end. As I looked around at the bedraggled
crowd sheltering under hoods and umbrellas, I caught a glimpse of the
goodness God saw in creation – the determination and resilience in the
human heart made in God’s image. All ages, all faiths, many nationalities,
delighting in our differences as God does, looking each other in the eyes and
daring to find hope there.
“Yes, love may win in the end but, as our gospel tells us, it is a costly
process. Light can only shine out of darkness, Easter comes only after Good
Friday. For oftentimes it is not easy to love; compassion, empathy,
forgiveness are hard won in the face of fear. Our love is rarely perfect
enough to cast out fear. But God’s love is. And if this love means that God
never gives up on us, never accepts the barriers we build, we know what we
must do.
StOM Page 7