{"id":70904,"date":"2015-08-03T01:00:52","date_gmt":"2015-08-03T07:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=70904"},"modified":"2016-01-22T10:29:36","modified_gmt":"2016-01-22T17:29:36","slug":"following-church-explosions-las-crucens-must-come-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2015\/08\/following-church-explosions-las-crucens-must-come-together\/","title":{"rendered":"Following Church explosions, Las Crucens must come together"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t
Heath Haussamen \/ NMPolitics.net<\/h6>
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Following the explosions, Las Crucens gathered Sunday evening at an interfaith vigil.<\/p><\/div>

Heath Haussamen \/ NMPolitics.net<\/h6>
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Father Jos\u00e9 Segura prays in Spanish with Monsignor John Anderson. One of the two explosions went off at their church, Holy Cross, on Sunday.<\/p><\/div>

Heath Haussamen \/ NMPolitics.net<\/h6>
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Orlando Jim\u00e9nez sings \"Alabar\u00e9\" (\"I will praise\") at Sunday's prayer vigil.<\/p><\/div>

Heath Haussamen \/ NMPolitics.net<\/h6>
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A group from the Islamic Center of Las Cruces joined Sunday's prayer vigil.<\/p><\/div>

Heath Haussamen \/ NMPolitics.net<\/h6>
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Rev. Jared Carson of Peace Lutheran Church speaks at Sunday's prayer vigil.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

COMMENTARY:<\/strong> “These are not firecrackers. These devices were intended, I believe, to do harm, and could have done harm to people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Heath<\/a>

Heath Haussamen<\/p><\/div>\n

Those were the words spoken by New Mexico State Police Chief\u00a0Pete Kassetas at a news conference<\/a> outside Calvary Baptist Church in Las Cruces on Sunday evening.\u00a0He and Gov. Susana Martinez made clear that the devices that exploded<\/a> at Calvary Baptist and Holy Cross Catholic Church on Sunday morning were “improved explosive devices”<\/a> — weapons that could have caused\u00a0real harm.<\/p>\n

The device that exploded in a rubber trash can in the\u00a0Holy Cross entryway shattered the glass doors. Imagine if people had been walking through those doors when\u00a0it happened.<\/p>\n

To be clear,\u00a0Kassetas stopped short of calling these “bombs” and calling the event\u00a0“terrorism.” His words when asked about possible terrorism:\u00a0\u201cI wouldn\u2019t rule anything out yet but it\u2019s early in the investigation and we\u2019re still developing leads.\u201d<\/p>\n

In short, we know this was more than kids setting off fireworks. We know that these devices\u00a0could have caused serious harm. But we don’t know\u00a0who did this\u00a0or why.<\/p>\n

The situation hit home for me. I attended Calvary Baptist for a time in college. My girlfriend attends Holy Cross. She wasn’t there when the device exploded, fortunately.<\/p>\n

The pastor at\u00a0First Baptist Church, which is located in my neighborhood, stopped services mid-sermon and evacuated the building. As I was driving by that church soon after that\u00a0I saw a black, unmarked law enforcement vehicle cruising my neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Law enforcement blanketed Las Cruces on Sunday. An El Paso Police Department officer circled the block during an evening interfaith prayer vigil at Pioneer Park downtown. I saw a vehicle with a U.S. Homeland Security Department logo heading to Holy Cross.<\/p>\n

“If your intention was to bring fear to those who worship, you have failed,” Martinez said at the news conference outside Calvary Baptist. “Our faith is too strong and our fellowship is unbreakable.”<\/p>\n

I know it’s common to say people who try to spread fear failed — but that doesn’t make it true.\u00a0I talked to people who were scared on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Instead, the words that resonated for\u00a0me came from Reverend Linda Mervine of First Christian Church. She said at the evening prayer service that the explosions\u00a0remind us all we’re vulnerable.<\/p>\n

We must respond to such situations with compassion, Mervine said.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, two explosions shook Las Cruces congregations. Also on Sunday, a hundred or more people from varying faiths gathered at a park to pray. There were parishioners from Holy Cross and Calvary Baptist. There were Methodists and Lutherans and Jews and Muslims and Unitarians. There were some non-religious people too.<\/p>\n

People came together.<\/p>\n

The service was religious and a couple\u00a0of non-religious folks\u00a0said\u00a0they felt out of place. I’m sympathetic to that.\u00a0But this wasn’t an event put on by the city. It was held by an interfaith group. Churches were targeted, and people of faith needed\u00a0to come together to pray.<\/p>\n

This was Las Cruces’ most significant attempt to look Sunday’s fear in the face and overcome as a community.\u00a0And it was powerful.<\/p>\n