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Changing Church

“The only thing that is constant is change; nothing endures but change.” So wrote the Greek philosopher Heraclitus in the sixth-century B.C.E. Supposing him to be correct in this observation, I find it strange indeed that so much of our outlook and activity is premised on the permanence of things, as though the status quo of the present has always been the case and can be expected to endure indefinitely. If Heraclitus is right, it is odd indeed that we should expend remarkable energy in preserving what is. I thought of Heraclitus’s comment when I found myself seated among a group of friends one recent morning, engaged in delightful conversation on matters both trivial and profound. I listened carefully as the conversation turned to how difficult it is for the church to change. I must say, I was fully awake at that point, my attention focused and undivided. “Why is it so hard to get the church to change?” one of the interlocutors asked, expressing both a thinly veiled criti

Too Much of Guns

Yet again, the nation has been subjected to the horror of a mass shooting. The tragedy that occurred September 16 at the Washington Navy Yard left thirteen people dead (including the shooter) and three others injured. This latest incident of gun violence picks up the narrative we left last at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. As brutal and senseless as this latest shooting is, we should not be surprised by it. Rather, what should be surprising is the notable absence of concern and remedy from our elected officials. In the wake of Sandy Hook, the number of federal bills passed to bring some measure of control to the proliferation of guns is exactly zero. While a small number of states have passed gun control measures, these pale in comparison to the number of laws adopted by certain states to ease existing gun restrictions. New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and I have something in common. It seems we both have a strong aversion to guns and gun violence. Both of us
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