Gang Violence

Wednesday (2 days ago) was difficult. My supervising pastor called to tell me that one "youth" from the church (he's 21) was arrested on Sunday in connection with the murder of a 23-year-old woman (mother of two). His picture was in the paper, and there have been stories for days. The death penalty is even being discussed. We (a bunch of church members and I) talked about it Wednesday night at Bible study -- and Bible study was a bit depressed, unfocused, and lack-luster because of our preoccupation with this. The "good" news is that this young man was one of nine involved, and he has not been identified as the trigger man (someone else has). We've prayed for this young man; when I suggested to my supervising pastor that we might want to visit him in prison (I am on break from school next week) -- she said does not want to go see him unless he says he wants a visit from her. She feels he chose the gang over his church family (and the right values) and she's very comfortable with her decision. To me it seems punitive, but she has much more gang experience than I do, so maybe she is protecting her credibility, her status as a community leader that doesn't succumb to threats and isn't intimidated by gangs. I don't know what to think about this. It's interesting to examine your faith in light of your response to events like this. I feel like we should always support a church member, but I don't know where you draw a line when crime is involved. How bad is too bad? Where is grace and forgiveness? Is it God's alone, or ours too?