"Shooter"

THIS SUNDAY
8:00, 9:15 & 10:45
We’ve got a lot going on, including Volunteer Appreciation, a Ministry Minute annoucning the Luis Palau Heartland Festival, the always popular Ladies Ensemble, New Members, Baptisms—and Bruce preaching: “SUSANNA AND THE TWO ELDERS.”
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I went to the movies, yesterday, to see “Shooter.” The film was adapted from the Stephen Hunter book, “Point Of Impact.” Stephen Hunter writes richly textured action novels; “Point Of Impact” features one of my favorite figures of ontemporary fiction: Bob Lee Swagger. Bob Lee was a sniper in Vietnam, trying now to live a quiet and peaceable life--but circumstances keep drawing back to violence. Like his daddy, Earl (see “Hot Springs”), Bob Lee Swagger lives in the hill country of western Arkansas. I was disappointed that the film put Bob Lee in Wyoming instead. The film makers have turned a terrific novel into a so-so-film, but that’s not why I’m writing about “Shooter.”

I’ve been thinking a lot about the second amendment to the constitution. I don’t think George Washington and Thomas Jefferson would have wanted to take Bob Lee’s guns away from him. I certainly don’t. Bob is a hunter, a man trained in weaponry. But neither do I think George, Tom and other framers of the constitution could have conceived that a disturbed college kid would have over-the-counter or internet access to the kind of high powered weaponry that took the lives of students and faculty at Virginia Tech. I don’t know what the answer is, but I have to believe that a creative, caring nation can come to some reasonable position that honors the intent of the second amendment without making high tech guns available to people who could have no possible use for them other than to slaughter other human beings.
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PASTOR CHARLOTTE writes:

CPR & AED TRAINING will be held on May 10, only, 6 – 9:30 p.m. Sign-up sheet is on the Welcome Table in the Rotunda – please register by May 1st. Class will be given by the National Safety and Health Council; certification good for 2 years; cost will be $45/person, payable in advance.

NEW PRAYER STUDY to begin Wednesday, May 2nd at 6 p.m. in the Prayer Chapel – concluding in 9 weeks. We will study the book, Praying the Psalms, by Juanita R. PLEASE PLAN TO JOIN US.
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We have learned that KEVIN O.'S father has passed away and we extend our sympathy to Kevin, Christy and the entire family.

We’ve heard a good report on BROOKE W.’S surgery.

And it’s great to see DOROTHY H. up here today, folding bulletins!
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John 18:10-11: Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear. The slave’s name was Malchus. Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath. Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?”
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BRD