A Mercy That Does Not Forget: A Pastoral Letter

Dear Siblings in Christ,

Grace and peace be with you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I am writing to you about an issue which is weighing heavily upon my own heart, and I believe, upon yours: the scheduled execution of Major Nidal Hasan, the Fort Hood shooter, via firing squad. As your pastor, I cannot remain silent when our nation prepares to execute a man in our name. I write these words not to lessen the enormity of what occurred at Fort Hood in 2009, nor to inflict additional pain upon the survivors and family members who lost loved ones and whose wounds are still fresh. Instead, I write these words because the Gospel we preach compels us to view even this event through the lens of the cross, where God was put to death under the law and responded not with revenge, but with resurrection and mercy.

Our Lutheran tradition speaks with surprising clarity regarding this issue. Luther's Small Catechism states that in the Fifth Commandment we are not only instructed to refrain from causing harm to our neighbors, but to assist and support them in all ways necessary to meet their needs—thereby leaving no individual outside the boundaries of our care, regardless of how great the evil they have committed. Our Confessions make a distinction between what the State may do to prevent evil and what the Gospel directs us to seek, and our theology of the cross teaches us that the mechanism of legal execution is exactly what Christ confronted and defeated. We find ourselves in good company: in 1991, the ELCA passed a social statement calling for the abolition of the death penalty, based on the sanctity of each life for which Christ died, the fallibility of our justice systems, and the call to be a public church. Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, Methodists, Presbyterians, and other denominational voices have come to the same conclusion. When the body of Christ speaks with such consensus, we should heed.

While the general question of capital punishment concerns me greatly, there are several aspects of this case which concern my conscience even more. The return of the firing squad will require young soldiers to serve as executioners, burdening their souls and tarnishing the reputation of a military that trains people to heal and protect. Thirteen years of appeals have failed to provide the healing that grief truly requires—many of the victims' families have attested that executions do not heal broken hearts; only time, community, meaning, and mercy can do so—slowly and imperfectly. And the world will witness the most powerful nation execute a man using a firing squad. What Gospel will that spectacle proclaim? Not the Gospel I have vowed to study and preach. I urge all of us to three things: pray—for the victims and their families, for the survivors, for Major Hasan, for the soldiers who will be required to execute this act, and for our leaders who possess the authority to grant clemency; advocate— by communicating with officials and petitioning for clemency through established channels like our ELCA advocacy ministry; and converse—meet with me on November 1st as we examine Scripture together, bringing your questions and disagreements—for this is holy work we do as one body.

I conclude where our faith always begins and ends: with the cross and the empty tomb. Scripture is full of people we may have dismissed—the thief on the cross, the persecutor on the road to Damascus, the denier at the charcoal fire—and God would not write off one of them. That refusal is at the core of the Gospel. The State may have the authority to take a life, but God has the authority to redeem one—and we are called to stand on the side of redemption. Regardless of your relationship to this tragedy—as a veteran, as someone grieving, as someone disagreeing with me—please know that my door is open and my opposition to this and any execution is not an attack on your grief, but a response to grief for every life affected by violence. May God give wisdom to our leaders, consolation to those grieving, mercy to those condemned, and courage to all of us.

In the heart of Jesus Pastor Eric