Jesus on Death Row

The death penalty is a funny thing.

Not funny ha ha. Just funny. In a state where hundreds of folks will come out to the state capitol to protest against abortion, taxes, and the licensing of interior designers… we can only get 24 to show up to talk about the death penalty at this church right across the street.

Professor Mark Osler of Baylor Law School came to talk about his book “Jesus on Death Row”. He is a graduate of Yale Law and a former prosecutor. He now teaches classes on sentencing and professional ethics. He pointed out some very interesting parallels between the Texas justice system and the process that Jesus went through to be put to death.

My friend Sara did a concert series across the state last year trying to raise awareness about the death penalty. The crowds were less than overwhelming.

Texans don’t want to talk about the death penalty. By and large we buy into the idea of retributive justice. If you take a life, you will lose your life. I understand that. The myth of retributive violence is all around us.

Our non-violent heroes are few. Jesus, Ghandi, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr are all I can think of. Our heroes who fix the world by doing violence to the offender? That list goes on and on.

Jesus taught another way. That way is a hard thing to keep in mind when a loved one has died a terrible death.

People do horrible things to each other. I’m sure that in the heat of the moment I would take a life to defend my own or another’s.

It’s just that if I follow the words of the one who started this whole Christianity thing, I should have a hard time judging others. I should have a harder time condemning them to death. Things get complicated. Osler pointed out that when Jesus came across a legal execution he challenged the moral authority of the crowd, “Let you who are without sin cast the first stone.” No one did.

Do you know why we use lethal injection? Professor Osler said that it is because it’s the most palatable to watch for the families of the victims. Generally speaking, most people don’t want to watch someone being shot or hung to death, unless it’s in a video game. Too violent and bloody. Death is funny like that.

By the way, we just killed our 439th prisoner on death row. We are first in something. We are the state that has legally killed the most people. Something to be proud of. Ha ha.

The UM General Board of Church and Society invites you to learn more at www.deathpenaltyinfo.org .

10 Things I Learned at Annual Conference - stimulating title I know

Well folks,
I went to my first BIG meeting of the Methodists. Yes, my first Southwest Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church! This is where all the Methodists in our conference come together to worship, hash things out, update each other on what’s going on in the global church, and look for ideas to improve our own church homes. It wasn’t as bad as I was led to believe! I’d heard tales of food poisoning, jelly fish and endless meetings, but only experienced one of those. Corpus Christi was beautiful, had a constant breeze and the people were so friendly. So here is my top 10 list of things I learned at my first Annual Conference

#10 Our conference is going to spend the next 6 months raising money for Nothing but Nets. This is our first big push working together to further one of our stated goals “Stamping out the killer disease of poverty by improving health globally.” We can end Malaria if we pull together and help developing nations. We will be starting in Sierra Leone, but that is just the beginning…

#9 Eating a delicious, greasy, fried hamburger and fries at Hurbs might sound like a good idea. It’s not.

#8 Our new Bishop is really funny and seems like a guy you’d want to hang out with. Plus he moved the meetings right along. Good job Bishop Dorff.

#7 As in the rest of society, the churches for the most part, were divided by race. I hate that. How do we fix that?

#6 I’m bringing fruit for the FUMC Austin table next time. Sitting for hours with a big fat bowl of candy in front of you does not make you feel sleek when you go down to the pool later in the day after all the meetings.

#5 Methodists really do like to sing. I love that. And it wasn’t all songs from 1782. We can rock the house!

#4 It was great to see people who disagreed on matters of polity do so with respect and cordiality. Thank you to all who expressed their views in that manner. I wish we could be like that all the time.

#3 If you see jelly fish on the beach why would you get into the water? There is no good reason unless you are just into pain. I am not into pain. I really wish I hadn’t gotten into the water.

#2 This church is very lucky to have Beverly Silas representing us. She serves on the Board of Church and Society. She knows the in’s and out’s of all the policy, people and places that are discussed. Go talk to Beverly if you have questions about the church. She’ll know the answer.

#1 NEVER let your husband exit the house for a long car trip with a RUSH CD hidden on his person. It was bad enough in the early 1980’s but to listen to it now is pure torture.