Two years ago I was in Arusha, Tanzania, with a small group of LPGM travelers. We had just visited Eripoto (“Security” in Maa) for Girls and Women, LPGM’s partner organization that provides safe housing for girls.

I vividly recall having a conversation with the driver of the vehicle that was transporting us. Leslie is a Tanzanian man, maybe in his late twenties or early thirties. He described to me his fear of visiting the United States because of the endemic gun violence and continual reports of mass shootings. He couldn’t fathom how violent a place like the U.S. could be, or how easy it is to own a gun here.

This morning my colleague came rushing into my office to break the news of the shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis, just minutes from our homes. We both know children who attend school there.

O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;
and by night but find no rest.

I am poured out like water,
    and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
    it is melted within my breast;
my mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
    and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
    you lay me in the dust of death.
—Psalm 22: 2, 14-15 (NRSVue)

I am heartbroken for the victims and their families of this shooting.

I’m heartbroken for the victims and families of the school shootings in Frankfort, Kentucky; Plano, Texas; Atlanta, Georgia; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Lubbock, Texas; Platteville, Wisconsin; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Inglewood, California; Ettrick, Virginia; Elizabeth City, North Carolina; Normal, Illinois; New York City, New York; Norfolk, Virginia; Conway, Arkansas; Tallahassee, Florida; San Antonio, Texas; Dallas, Texas; Stockton, California; Houston, Texas; Omaha, Nebraska; Newark, Delaware; Lakeland South, Washington; Halethorpe, Maryland; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Pasadena, Texas; Nashville, Tennessee; and Santa Rosa, California.

Those are just in 2025.

More than 20 dead and 65 injured human beings in the past eight months, created and loved by God.

LPGM’s mission is to “provide access to quality education for people at the margins,” and we often talk about the barriers that prevent people from receiving a quality education.

Gun violence is a barrier to quality education for far too many students in the United States, and yet we as a nation do far too little to prevent it. It’s the number one cause of death for children and teens in the U.S. Yet we treat the Second Amendment as holy scripture, ever widening its definition, unwilling to question its boundaries, while people around us die.

We owe it to our neighbor…

Our Lutheran understanding of the gospel compels us to act in love for our neighbor, even if it constrains our own freedom. Martin Luther wrote:

We owe it to our neighbor to accord him [sic] the same treatment in other troubles and perils, also. If his house is on fire, love compels me to run to help him extinguish the flames… If I see that he is hungry or thirsty, I cannot ignore him but must offer food and drink, not considering whether I would risk impoverishing myself by doing so. A man who will not help or support others unless he can do so without affecting his safety or property will never help his neighbor…

Anyone who does not do that for his neighbor, but forsakes him and leaves him to his misfortune, becomes a murderer in the sight of God.

—Martin Luther, “Whether One May Flee from a Deadly Plague” (1527)

Hope is an Active Word

We—as a community of faithful people who are called to love our neighbors—cannot sit quietly by and offer passive “thoughts and prayers.” We must act in hope.

Too often we use “hope” to mean a passive wish. “I hope that things improve.” 

But we can choose to turn hope into an action. We can act in the hope that God’s love will prevail. That we can be a part of God’s ongoing work of reconciliation in the world.

No one policy is going to be perfect. No individual law is going to prevent future tragedies like this from happening. But waiting for the perfect solution becomes the enemy of the many possible good solutions that have been proposed.

We can take illegal firearms off the streets and invest in mental health supports. We can make access to firearms more difficult and invest in safer schools. The solutions exist; we just need the collective will to enact them.

What You Can Do

1. If you know someone who is impacted by the Annunciation mass shooting, show up. There is a vigil at Lynnhurst Park in Minneapolis at 8pm tonight. Or just call them, text them, or sit with them. Prepare to misstep, as there is no guidebook for navigating times like these. We are called to be present and sit with others in grief and sorrow.
2. Call or write to your senator or representative and tell them that we will no longer accept empty words of prayer, but demand action.
3. Learn more from and donate to organizations who are working to end gun violence and school shootings, such as Protect Minnesota, Everytown for Gun Safety or Moms Demand Action.