UUA President statement marking the first anniversary of the Knoxville shootings. |
| Posted on Jul 23 2009 at 4:06 AM |
UUA President Peter Morales has issued a statement marking the first anniversary (July 27) of the tragic shootings which occurred at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in
A year ago in Knoxville, Tennessee, a man with a gun entered the Sunday morning worship service at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church (TVUUC) and killed two people, Greg McKendry from TVUUC and Dr. Linda Lee Kraeger from Westside Unitarian Universalist Church. That horrific act reminds us that when hate and fear take hold of the human heart, violence inevitably follows.
The response of the Knoxville UU congregations is a more potent reminder of the power of compassion, hope and courage. Rather than respond to hate with hate, they responded with love. Rather than allow fear to take over, they reaffirmed their commitment to a message of love. The care and support of their neighbors from other faiths reminds us all that our shared humanity and our love for one another are more powerful than our theological differences.
On this painful anniversary of a terrible tragedy, let us all commit ourselves once more to creating religious communities where love can flower. Let us commit ourselves to spreading our message of compassion, hope, understanding, community and joy to a world too often hurt by isolation, desperation and conflict.
Let us stand on the side of love. Love will guide us. It always has.
Morales’ statement can be found at http://www.uua.org/news/newssubmissions/144763.shtml . Words for a chalice lighting, written by Rev. Chris Buice, Minister of TVUUC, and Rev. Mitra Jafarzadeh, Minister of the Westside Unitarian Universalist Church, are also available for use in worship on Sunday, July 26, at http://www.uua.org/news/knoxville/worship/chalicelightings/144767.shtml . Additional worship resources written following the
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