Posts Tagged ‘shooting’

Day 14: Create an Outpouring of Love

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Feb 01, 2013

Today is Day 14 of the Thirty Days of Love. Today’s action is to join our response love network to offer messages of support in the wake of tragic acts of violence. Click here for resources, family actions, and more! Click here to sign up for the daily Thirty Days of Love emails.

When I first heard about the shooting at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin last summer, I couldn’t help but remember a parallel act of violence four years earlier at my own congregation, the Tennessee Valley UU Church (TVUUC). In both cases, a man with a gun and an agenda targeted innocent people of faith.

But along with the recollection of heartbreak and loss, I also carry with me the memory of the incredible flood of love and support that we received from our local community and from across the country. All around our church there are things folks sent to let us know we were loved.

With the events at TVUUC in mind, thousands of you responded to the shooting at the Sikh temple last summer in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. SSL supporters wrote over 2,000 messages of love and support to the Sikh community there. I think that anytime there is an act of violence targeting people because of their identities, we can and should reaffirm a message of love and a vision of a country where we all belong.

In that spirit, Standing on the Side of Love is gathering a network of people to send messages surrounding victims of violence with an outpouring of love whenever incidents of hate occur. From the shooting in Oak Creek to the recent arson attack on a mosque in Joplin, we can ensure that victims of senseless acts of hate know that they are loved.

Click here to sign up. We’re also searching for inspiring names for our response network, or “love team” and would love your help. Love Ambassadors? The Love Squad? What helps us best convey that we are here in spirit with those affected by a tragedy? Send your ideas to love@uua.org.

In the wake of violence and tragedy, let us lift up voices of love and compassion. Sign up for the response network today and help ensure that whenever and wherever acts of violence occur, we can surround the victims with an outpouring of love.

In faith,

Rev. Chris Buice
Tennessee Valley UU Church
Knoxville, Tennessee

PS: We hope your congregation is participating in Share the Love Sunday! We have compiled some helpful resources for planning your service, taking a collection to support the Unitarian Universalist Association, and discussing what it means for your congregation to stand on the side of love. Thanks for your generosity on February 17!

Tags: 30 Days of Love, hate, hate crimes, Knoxville, National Standing on the Side of Love Month, Oak Creek, response network, Rev. Chris Buice, shooting, Sikh, Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, Think Interfaith, violence, Wisconsin

Let Us Pray

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Dec 17, 2012

Let us pray for the families who have lost loved ones and little ones at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

Let us hold our own children and family members closer as we remember those who cannot do so today.

Let us pray with our work to make this world safer for all children and reaffirm our sacred obligation to protect the weak from the strong, the many who are peaceful from the few who are violent, the innocent young from the actions of reckless and dangerous adults.

Let us hope for healing in this time when healing seems unimaginable.

Let us love one another with a deeper appreciation of the sacred worth of every child and every human being knowing that when we do so there is a power greater than ourselves that can renew, restore and sustain us.

Rev. Chris Buice

This prayer was offered by Rev. Chris Buice of the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville in response to the recent shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. A shooting at that congregation in 2008 inspired the creation of the Standing on the Side of Love campaign.

Tags: Connecticut, Newtown, prayer, Rev. Chris Buice, Sandy Hook Elementary School, shooting, Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, violence

Prayer for Newtown

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Dec 15, 2012

Across the country, people have been reflecting on the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Can we challenge ourselves to stand on the side of love with everyone involved in this terrible tragedy? Rev. Fred Small shared this moving reflection with us. Please feel free to share your own personal reflections, prayers, or anything else that has moved you.

Prayer for Newtown
Rev. Fred Small
First Parish in Cambridge, Unitarian Universalist

Hearing the news from Connecticut of the deaths of so many people, so many children, our sorrow is beyond words, beyond comforting.

This violence was concentrated terribly in that one schoolhouse in that one small town, and yet this violence is commonplace.

In our beautiful and beloved country, scores of people die from gunfire every day.

In Boston so far this year, 49 people have been murdered, 34 of them by guns. The youngest victim was 9-year-old Christopher Miles. The oldest was Mary Miller, age 70.

Each person precious.

Every violent death an abomination.

We are desolate. We are disconsolate. We are angry.

And so we pray.

Spirit of Life,

God of hope in our despair,

God of compassion and forgiveness,

God of many names and one abundant love:

We pray for parents whose children will never again dash through the kitchen, never slam the door, never spill jelly on the sofa, never wake in the night needing comfort, never leave home, never fall in love, never grow up.

We pray for children whose buddies will never again ask if they can come over and play, whose siblings will never again tease them about their hair or their clothes.

We pray for children whose parents or grandparents will never again pick them up, never hold them close, never tuck them in, never kiss them goodnight.

We pray for every person who has lost a lover, a companion, a friend.

We pray for every child and every adult who will never, ever forget what they experienced in that school Friday morning.

We pray for teachers who must learn lockdown drills as well as prepare lesson plans.

We pray for a culture that fetishizes violence in movies, television, videos, songs, and first-person-shooter electronic games.

We pray for a mental health system so emaciated it makes no pretense of reaching those who desperately need help.

We pray for a criminal justice system that privileges punishment over healing, incarceration over reconciliation.

We pray for a political system so corrupted by wealth and bullied by power that good people are frightened to do what they know is right.

We pray for communities where shootings and other violent acts are daily occurrences.

We pray for those abused by the slow-motion violence of poverty and oppression.

And we pray for ourselves, that we may have the wisdom and the courage to act;

to change the conditions that make these crimes not only possible, but inevitable;

and to build the Beloved Community on this earth,

in this community,

in our time.

Amen and Blessed Be.

This post was written by Rev. Fred Small.

Tags: Connecticut, First Parish Cambridge UU, Newtown, prayer, Rev. Fred Small, Sandy Hook Elementary School, shooting

Delivering Love in to the Sikh Community in Oak Creek

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Sep 17, 2012

This post was written by Rev. Lori Hlaban, Assistant Minister for Membership & Congregational Engagement at UU Church West in Brookfield, WI .

As most of you know, the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin was the site of a terrible act of violence on Sunday, August 5th, when an armed man entered the temple in Oak Creek and began shooting. Six people were killed and three others wounded, including one policeman who had responded to calls for help.

The next day, Standing on the Side of Love sent out a call to supporters throughout the country to submit notes of encouragement and support for the Sikh Temple. Over 2,000 of you responded!

The Rev. Suzelle Lynch, minister of Unitarian Universalist Church West in Brookfield, Wisconsin, worked closely with UU seminarian Schuyler Vogel as well as a local contact with Brookfield’s Sikh Temple, to make arrangements for the delivery of the messages to the Oak Creek Temple.

On the evening of August 30th, the Rev. Dr. Drew Kennedy from First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee, Rev. Dr. Tony Larsen from Olympia Brown UU Church in Racine, Schuyler, and I went to the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin. There we were warmly welcomed by Mr. Gurmukh Singh, who was our guide and host. The walls of the foyer and fellowship rooms were covered with banners from congregations and communities of a variety of faiths, all offering good wishes and support for the people of the Sikh Temple.

We had a good discussion about Sikhism and Unitarian Universalism and then joined their worship service. At the end of the service, during their announcements, we jointly presented the messages from Standing on the Side of Love and a booklet from the Tennessee Valley UU Church in Knoxville (click here to see a copy of our remarks). Afterward, we joined in eating the delicious community meal (or langar) and chatted with several of the congregation’s members while we ate.

Messages waiting to be delivered to the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin. (Credit: Schuyler Vogel)

It was a humbling and inspiring experience, to see how this faith community has supported one another and reclaimed their space, which was so violently invaded. Mr. Singh took a few minutes to read some of the good wishes sent in from Standing on the Side of Love. He was deeply touched by the sentiments offered, and by the fact that so many people had taken the time to write notes of support. The members of the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin are grateful for all the support from other faith groups, and remain open and welcoming to others. I’m sure we all left with hopes of continuing to build relationships between all our churches and the Sikh community.

Tags: Oak Creek, Rev. Dr. Drew Kennedy, Rev. Dr. Tony Larsen, Rev. Lori Hlaban, Rev. Suzelle Lynch, Schuyler Vogel, shooting, Sikh, Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, violence, Wisconsin