The Rev. Tony Larson, co-moderator of the 226th General Assembly (2024), brings words of hope and encouragement during event held as part of the Young Adult Advocacy Conference
by Darla Carter | Presbyterian News Service
The Rev. Christina Cosby of the Office of Public Witness, second from right, speaks last week during a gun violence prevention vigil held as part of the Young Adult Advocacy Conference. (Photo by Darla Carter)
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina — T-shirts emblazoned with the names of local victims of fatal gun violence encircled a cross at Union Presbyterian Seminary on a recent afternoon.
The T-shirts, placed on the ground at the base of the cross, called attention to a problem that is all too common, not only in Mecklenburg County but the nation as a whole.
“We recognize the names of individuals no longer with us, lives taken (prematurely) … by a form of violence — gun violence — an epidemic in this country that impacts this soil, in this place,” said the Rev. Christina Cosby, Representative for Domestic Issues & Environmental Justice for the Presbyterian Office of Public Witness (OPW). “Lord, in your mercy, hear their names in our prayer.”
The social justice action was the final activity of the Young Adult Advocacy Conference, “Jesus and Justice,” which was held on the Charlotte campus Oct.18-20 by OPW and the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations.
PC(USA) has a long history of speaking out against gun violence and has declared 2022-2032 to be the Decade to End Gun Violence.
The T-shirts represented just a fraction of people who’ve lost their lives to gun violence in the local area.
The Charlotte Observer reported that 61 people were killed in Charlotte in the first half of 2024 (at least 50 victims having been shot to death). That’s more than in the first six months of any year since at least 2015, the newspaper noted in July. And the state as a whole averages more than 1,300 gun deaths a year.
But “today, we say no to gun violence,” said the Rev. Jimmie Hawkins, PC(USA) advocacy director.
The Rev. Tony Larson, co-moderator of the 226th General Assembly (2024) of the PC(USA), was present to support the event, which included scripture, song, and an opportunity to speak the names of victims, either someone local listed on a T-shirt or someone on the heart of a vigil participant.
“May this action, may this symbolic rite remind us and those who pass by that we have been blessed with voices that we might use them, that we are connected, all of us, one to another, that while we are resurrection people, all of these deaths that come too soon break our communities and keep us from being all that God would dream that we could be,” Larson said. “Bless this brokenness and bless us to be repairers of the breach.”
Earlier this year, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy declared firearm violence a public health crisis in America, noting that more than half (54%) of U.S. adults or their family members have experienced a firearm-related incident in their lives.
And, as pointed out by recent OPW Summer Fellow Olivia Phelps, firearm-related injury is the leading cause of death for U.S. children and adolescents.
Hawkins said young people have inherited a culture of gun violence that includes living under the specter of school shootings.
Last year, there were more than 2,300 victims of firearm-related violent crime in Charlotte as of early June, according to local police.
To change society, it’s time “to love one another,” he said, and to recognize “that we are truly the children of God.”
Though the vigil had a local focus, Hawkins also asked attendees to remember people experiencing war overseas, including those in Gaza and Sudan, noting, “only through our sorrow will we have the power (and) the energy to move and act and to speak” to bring about peace.
Recalling the words of previous speakers at the conference, Larson reminded attendees to have courage as they return to their communities and to never let anyone despise them because of their youth since their voices are needed and there is work to be done.
Until swords are turned into plowshares, “give them Jesus,” he said. “Let him abide in you and take care of one another on that work, for it is good when siblings can gather, even with broken hearts and hopeful hearts in unity.”
The Presbyterian Office of Public Witness and the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations are among the Compassion, Peace and Justice ministries of the Presbyterian Mission Agency.
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