Don't come to church packing a weapon

Sometimes it's a good thing to have a healthy conversation. In the last week or so, I've had discussions with a number of Centenary folk about our church's response to the March 8 shooting death of a pastor during a worship service in Maryville, Ill.

At all of our main entrances to Centenary, signs have been placed reading: "We respectfully request that no offensive weapons be brought into the facilities of Centenary UMC at any time."

This is puzzling to some folks who point out, quite rightly, that a sign won't stop a deranged gunman from entering the church campus.

Every few years, it seems, we read of such a tragic shooting at a church, and a sign won't be a deterrent. No argument. The point of the signs is to give our own people a message: Don't react to the news of a church shooting by bringing concealed weapons to worship.

Arming ourselves for church is not the answer. You don't protect your pastor, or anyone else, by bringing an offensive weapon in under your clothing. In the adrenaline of the moment, a well-intentioned armed person trying to protect someone from harm may well do harm to many others in such an enclosed setting with people packed so close together in a sanctuary.

But there is something higher at stake here than tactics. Jesus rejected the use of weapons to ensure his personal safety, chastising Peter, who brandished a sword and cut off the ear of the arresting party in Gethsemane's garden, by saying, "No more of this!" (Luke 22:51).

You may well point out to me Jesus' admonition to his disciples: " ... the one who has no sword must sell his cloak and buy one." (Luke 22:36) I admit those statements may seem contradictory. When you read verses like that one, it makes clear that Jesus was a realist. There is evil in the world, and he knew it. Understand that such weapons on the disciples would be visible. Perhaps Jesus' intent was that evil men, seeing the disciples so arrayed, would not even countenance a violent act. The walking-around world of first-century disciples is not the same world as that inhabited by us, 21st-century churchgoers. I admit, however, there are arguments on both sides of this issue.

I was in the rifle club in high school. I was a deer and turkey hunter in my youth. My issue is not weapons per se, but weapons in church. If we encourage (or more likely, tacitly permit) concealed weapons in church today, then can frisking parishioners and/or metal detectors at church entrances be far behind?

Silly? I don't know. We just can't start down this road, in my judgment. With deep respect for other opinions, please don't come packing. Rather, come expecting that you are walking into a refuge, into a place of emotional, spiritual and physical safety.

Jeff Long is the pastor of Centenary United Methodist Church in Cape Girardeau.