To the Editor:
DeKalb clergy gathered around a breakfast table at a the Lincoln Inn on June 15 to share our common grief and lament for those who died at the Pulse nightcub on Latin night June 12. We met so that we could plan how, together, our faith communities in DeKalb might collectively respond to the horrific events of that early morning in Orlando.
Together our hearts are broken and our souls are weary at the increasing gun violence that we are witnessing in our country and in our communities. We know this pain personally and too well, as we also recall the shooting at Northern Illinois University in February 2008.
As faith leaders, we are aware and deeply grieved by the history and legacy of injustice within our own faith communities. Hateful rhetoric has been used to justify violence. And the violence gives rise to increased feelings of fear and anger.
As a result, we become more and more alienated and isolated from one another. In the wake of the massacre in Orlando, we can see that our LGBTQ neighbors, our Hispanic neighbors, and our Muslim neighbors now bear the brunt of this collective fear and alienation. This is a betrayal of our common humanity.
While we ministers cherish our unique spiritual traditions and our various cultural communities, at the same time we deeply honor our common humanity. If we are all made in the image of God, then we are defiling God’s love for humankind by saying nothing after a tragedy such as this.
We must speak.
We must act. And we must begin in our own city of DeKalb and in our own neighborhoods.
At 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 29, we will hold an interfaith gathering at First Lutheran Church, 324 N. Third St., DeKalb.
All are welcome. We seek a time together to lament, remember, repent and restore our community.
As neighbors we can listen and learn from one another. May our prayers, our music, and our time together change us, to be the people of faith and love that we aspire to be.
With hope for a loving and safe community,
The Rev. Janet Hunt
First Lutheran Church
The Rev. Joe Gastiger
First Congregational UCC
The Rev. Judy Harris
First Congregational UCC
The Rev. Paul Judd
DeKalb First United Methodist Church
Pastor Elizabeth Manning Mascal
Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church
The Rev. Joe Mitchell
New Hope Missionary Baptist Church
The Rev. Leroy Mitchell
New Hope Missionary Baptist Church
The Rev. Jane Ann Moore, retired
First Congregational UCC
The Rev. Bill Moore, retired
First Congregational UCC
The Rev. Dr. Blake Richter
Westminster Presbyterian Church
The Rev. Linda Slabon
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of DeKalb
The Very Rev. Stacy Walker
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
The Rev. Jen Zerby
Hillcrest Covenant Church