Dear Senators Young and Braun,
Yesterday morning, I took a moment before worship to reflect on how many times during my short ministry career I watched the news on Sunday morning to find out where the latest shooting in my city had occurred that night before to call my people to prayer. This was true as I served as a pastor in Indianapolis and now in South Bend. Too often our services have been filled with prayers for those victims and families of the latest shooting down the street or the most recent mass shooting, which happens often in this nation. This weekend, as we know, we prayed for El Paso and Dayton. I am a person of prayer. I believe in prayer, but I also believe that as we pray, we need to seek solutions and become people of action.
I am writing you today as a person of faith, as a minister, and as a citizen of our nation and the state you represent asking that you work with fellow Senators to at least have a dialogue about what can be done in our nation regarding gun violence. I’m simply asking you to be in the conversation, to listen, to consider solutions, and to finally act on behalf of your people who have been touched by gun violence in their communities.
It’s time to take action. Your people are crying out in prayer and in voice. The professor and theologian Miroslav Volf wrote, “There is something deeply hypocritical about praying for a problem you are unwilling to resolve.” I pray and write to you asking that you bring resolutions to the table and get something done.
Thank you for taking the time to read my letter.
Grace and peace,
Rev. Matt Landry