Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
My day began, once again, with a piece of heartbreaking news. Last night, while attending a Bible study at Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC, a young man opened fire with a semiautomatic handgun. Nine people were killed in what can only be described as another senseless act of gun violence.
My soul mourns for the families of those whose lives were taken, as well as for the communities of Emmanuel AME Church and Charleston. And my heart breaks for our country. Pointless acts, such as these, have no place in our culture. We have to wake up and begin to take gun violence seriously because the truth is that this type of tragedy is becoming all too familiar. Access to guns has become too easy and we need to address that, lest we wake up on yet another morning to learn that even more innocent lives have been lost.
This tragedy is one more wake up call for all of us. I am deeply saddened by this and while I do not claim to have all the answers, I know that this is too much. When will it stop?
May God bless all those who mourn.
