​Heeding God’s Call to End Gun Violence

In the Beatitudes, Jesus calls us to do the work of peace: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”

I am excited to share with you about the work of peacemaking St. Paul’s is doing to remember those lost to gun violence, and how we are praying and acting to end this plague. From Monday, October 10 until Sunday, October 23, we will be hosting the Memorial to the Lost. This memorial is a project of Heeding God’s Call to End Gun Violence, a faith-based organization committed to answering God’s call to end gun violence in the United States. Our outdoor memorial will be made up of displayed T-shirts, each of which contains the name of someone who died by gun violence, right here in Allegheny County, in 2022. It will be located on our lawn, where people coming to our building, or even just walking by, may pause to pay their respects and learn more about this issue that is affecting all of our neighborhoods.

We are one of several churches in the Pittsburgh region hosting the memorial this year. Recently, I visited the Memorial where it is currently being displayed in East Liberty, and saw people walking by suddenly stop in their tracks to look at the shirts, and read the names. I watched a grandmother walk by with her granddaughter, and read each name aloud with her. It is a powerful, moving memorial. I invite you to visit it with your friends, neighbors, and family, and pray for the families of each of the people whose memory we are honoring. You can learn more about the memorial, and Heeding God’s Call, at their website, heedinggodscall.org.

I hope you can also join me for a Sunday morning forum on October 9, at 9:45am, to learn more about the Memorial, as well as work we are doing with community partners such as CeaseFirePA. We will also discuss how gun violence prevention is critical to saving lives in all of our neighborhoods that would be lost to homicide, domestic violence, and death by suicide.

Finally, on Sunday October 16 at 3pm, we are hosting an Interfaith Prayer Service with our interfaith and ecumenical partners, Temple Emanuel of South Hills, Bower Hill Community Church, Unitarian Universalist Church of the South Hills, Westminster Presbyterian Church, and Sunset Hills United Presbyterian Church. Together, we will dedicate the Memorial, honor those lost to gun violence and their families, and pray for peace in our communities.

Please feel free to reach out to me, 412-531-7153 x, 13, erin@stpaulspgh.org, to learn more about this work of participating in God’s Beloved Community, and how you can get involved.