The shootings in Tucson this past week give Americans much upon which to meditate.
I offer the attached image, a mixed-media art piece I created last month, as a focus for reflection.
I found the shell casings used in the image when I was hiking in the desert.
They littered one spot on the ground in a magnificent wilderness area, Rainbow Basin in the Mojave.
So often, the things we think will save us actually crucify us.
The cross was used by the Romans to terrorize its subjects into submission.
The Romans believed that employing torture would protect them from their enemies, but it contributed to the moral decay and slow disintegration of their empire.
The early Christians turned this symbol of violence inside out and upside down, and made it a sign of hope and redemption.
But the power of the cross for positive transformation depends on our awareness of what crucifies us today.
People are afraid of crime and social disruption, so they buy guns to defend themselves.
But now, as we have seen so clearly in Tucson, our nation is being crucified by gun violence.
People who are afraid of perceived threats to their cherished values sometimes get so passionate that they use violent imagery to express themselves.
Now we see vicious political language crucifying our nation: crippling our political process, disrupting work on our country's most pressing challenges.
The shooting in Tucson was not the direct result of any one incident of violent political rhetoric.
But this culture of destructive speech has infected us all, the Tucson shooter included.
The demonization of government and of politicians surely does not calm the moods nor inhibit the destructive impulses of psychologically unstable people.
It does not bring out the best in any of us, regardless of our mental health.
The cross focuses our attention on the ways we hurt ourselves and each other.
It makes us face the ways that we suffer, and the ways that we contribute to that suffering.
The cross is a homeopathic spiritual remedy: a symbolic dose of that which ails us, aiming toward the cure.
Through the faith that Jesus inspires in us, once again we transform the meaning of the cross on which we suffer today.
By facing our crucifixion by the cult of guns and violent political rhetoric, we can transcend it and choose the life that awaits us on the other side.
By facing this cross, we renounce what nails us to it, and commit ourselves to forgiveness, compassion, and cooperation, and to creating a public culture that encourages these virtues.
May the cross of Christ provide the "cross-hairs" we aim at ourselves -
Our own actions that contributed to the tragic events of this week -
So that we will turn away from bullets and the language of bullets,
And make the choice for love.
(PS: I was quoted last Sat in this piece about an interfaith effort for desert preservation: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-beliefs-desert-20110108,0,2708832.story)
(PSS: This from Michael Dowd of EvolutionaryChristianity.com: "Starting this Saturday, January 15, will be the first of six interactive seminars (via phone and internet, twice a week) featuring speakers from his series. You'll be able to engage with the panelists and submit questions either ahead of time or live during the roundtable discussions. Learn more here: http://evolutionarychristianity.com/blog/live-seminars/ If you think "Jesus OR Darwin" is a false choice and you'd like to experience a multitude of bridge-building approaches, don't miss this historic series of discussions. If you haven't already registered for the free Evolutionary Christianity series, see here: http://evolutionarychristianity.com Once registered, you will be emailed information regarding how to listen live, via phone or internet, or later, at your convenience.")