Dear Ones of St. Columba's,

Last Saturday our country saw the worst attack on Jewish people in our history.  Even with all the violence we have seen and read about in the news in recent years, this event is especially shocking to us. In part, we are shocked because the followers of Judaism are our siblings in faith and no one should be or feel unsafe in their house of worship. But I think this crime is especially shocking because it is discouraging and heart rending to come face to face with how real and damaging antisemitism still is today, so many years after the world saw the true depravity of what this hate can do in the Holocaust. 

Many religious leaders of multiple faiths have come forward to denounce what happened in the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, and to stand in solidarity and mourning with people who follow Judaism during this time. Our own Bishop Rickel has issued a statement, which you can read here. There have been vigils and prayer services, and even as I write this funerals for the eleven lives lost are ongoing. 

This is a tough way to head into the week of All Saints and All Souls, a time when we as a church remember our beloved dead. But it is a good opportunity for us as Christians to remember where this antisemitism comes from. Our faith tradition, in many of its forms both past and present, has participated in the persecution of Jewish people in ways both big and small. Our sacred scriptures have been used against Jews in particular, and so we cannot witness this act without knowing that it is especially necessary for us to see what hate does and work as hard as we can to always choose love instead. 

Please keep the people of Pittsburgh, and the people who have lost loved ones there this week, in your prayers. But please also listen to the world around you, and watch for opportunities to stand up to the smaller and even more prevalent ways in which hate moves here, in our part of the world, with people here. Let's keep asking ourselves how we can be agents of love - defending those who are targets of hate, listening to those who are experiencing oppression, and standing in solidarity with the ones whose faith, or skin color, or nation of origin puts them at risk of harm. 

I am proud of this community of faith, and how we are learning to be in community together in diverse ways. Let's keep it up, and let's keep love at the center of who we are, and why we come together to pray, hope, and keep the faith.

with care and gratitude,

Alissa