"Friends, we are here this evening to stand in shared grief..."
Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Phoenix
July 30, 2008
Friends, we are here this evening to stand in shared grief over the tragic shooting at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist (UU) Church this past Sunday, during a special children’s performance during the morning worship service. On that morning, Jim Adkisson, a stranger to the church walked into the sanctuary with a shotgun hidden in a guitar case and began shooting. Two people were killed and seven more injured.
We come together tonight, to share our own grief at the horror our fellow Unitarian Universalist Congregation experienced. We come together to share the multitude of emotions that we feel witnessing this tragedy—anger, great sadness, even fear. We come together to offer our love and our prayers to the Tennessee Valley UU Church, and to the Westside UU Fellowship of Knoxville, one of whose members was visiting the church for the children’s production and was killed.
In these times of tragedy and loss, when hate and irrationality break through our lives, we come together to remember the healing power of love and community that all might not be lost at the hands of such violence.
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Last updated on Thursday, June 3, 2010.
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