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REGARDING
KNOXVILLE...
FOLLOWING
IS THE LINK TO ONE OF THE RECENT ARTICLES IN THE SAVANNAH
MORNING NEWS...
Unitarians: Knoxville shooter "must have been in a horrible
place"
by Dana Clark Felty
About 40 people braved late afternoon thunderstorms Wednesday
to pay respects to the victims of a recent church shooting
in Knoxville, Tenn.
READ ENTIRE ARTICLE
The
hour-long service at the Unitarian Universalist Church of
Savannah included solemn words, songs and prayers in honor
of the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church. Two
people were killed and seven were injured there during a children's
performance Sunday morning after a man identified as Jim D.
Adkisson, 58, pulled a shotgun from a guitar case and fired
three times.
Knoxville
investigators said Adkisson targeted the congregation because
of its liberal values.
"We
reflect on what it means to live in an open and welcoming
community," said the Rev. Joan Kahn Schneider during
a "service of solidarity" in the Savannah sanctuary.
"What we need to remember is there was a man behind that
gun, born with inherent human dignity."
...and
the latest correspondence from Annette Marquis of the Thomas
Jefferson District...
Thomas Jefferson District of the UUA
SPECIAL NOTICE for TJD Leaders
July 31, 2008
My dear friends in the TJD,
I know that each of our congregations in the TJD are holding
the members and friends of Tennessee Valley UU Church and
Westside UU Fellowship in your hearts. This Sunday, August
3, congregations all over the district and the entire country
will deviate from their originally planned summer worship
service to have special services that focus on coping with
this tragedy. At this point, it appears that the Sunday worship
service at TVUUC will be webcast live by the local TV station
WBIR. If you are with a small congregation, you might want
to arrange to watch that as your Sunday service (www.wbir.com).
The service will be at 10:00 AM EDT. The broadcast will also
be available for viewing later.
I have been working closely with the UUA's communications
folks to help make sure that uua.org has up-to-date information
of what is happening in Knoxville and around the country in
response to this tragedy. Consequently, I have chosen to not
update the TJD website on a regular basis but instead focus
on getting information to as wide an audience as possible.
I encourage you to set UUA Knoxville News as your browser's
home page so you can see the latest news.
If your congregation has already or is planning to hold a
vigil or a special service to help your communities deal with
their grief, please submit the information to websubmissions@uua.org.
This is an important show of support to Tennessee Valley Unitarian
Universalist Church (TVUUC) and Westside Unitarian Universalist
Fellowship (WUUF), who were both deeply affected by this tragedy,
and although, they might not be checking uua.org while they
are the midst of this crisis, it will give them great comfort
in the days, weeks, and months ahead to know how their community
of faith responded when they were in such great need. You
can also leave comments to show your support at the UUA's
Supporting Our Friends in Knoxville blog
Please announce to your congregations the a special relief
fund that has been set up by the UUA and the TJD to support
the congregations as they work through this incredible grief
and trauma. Any financial help you can provide will make a
big difference in assuring that people directly and indirectly
impacted by this trauma have the ongoing support they need
to work through the physical, emotional, psychological and
spiritual impact on them and their congregations. Contributions
to the fund can be made at Knoxville Relief Fund.
The Knoxville congregations appreciate your show of support
far more than you can know. I personally want to thank you
for the messages you have sent to Sue Sinnamon and me directly.
This is the most challenging work that any district staff
member has to do and receiving an email or text message filled
with your heartfelt words of encouragement has gotten both
Sue and me through some of the most difficult times. If we
have not yet answered you directly, please know we are extremely
grateful and will respond as soon as things quiet down.
Thank you all again for support and especially for your commitment
to this amazing faith we love so deeply.
Yours in faith,
Annette Marquis
TJD District Executive
Thomas
Jefferson District of the UUA
SPECIAL NOTICE for TJD Leaders
July 29, 2008
From Annette Marquis --
I have never been so proud of being a Unitarian Universalist
as I was yesterday in Knoxville.
It started when 30 or so people, some from TVUUC, some from
Westside UU Fellowship, some from the Red Cross, some of the
local mental health agency, some from our own UU Trauma Response
Team, several local UU ministers, and Sue Sinnamon and I from
the TJ District staff, gathered together to plan the day,
or should I say, the day after. The meeting was chaotic, disjointed,
and disorganized -- much like so many people in the room felt
on this Monday morning -- yet our task was clear. What needed
to be done on this day and in the immediate days to follow
to begin the healing process in the wake of Sunday's devastating
tragedy?
After only a few minutes, one subgroup broke off and began
planning the critical incident stress debriefing sessions
that would be held from 5 to 7 pm that evening, sessions that
were age- and situation-appropriate: those who witnessed the
attack and those who did not, those from TVUUC, those from
Westside, children and adults in the cast of "Annie,"
pre-schoolers, first and second-graders, second and third
graders, and on and on. Another group created a master list
of all the decisions, all the tasks, all the work that needed
to be done this week, from getting the damaged pews out of
the sanctuary and into storage to planning the vigil that
was happening that night to imagining a re-dedication of the
sacred space that is the TVUUC building. Within a short couple
of hours, amidst all the heavy hearts in the TVUUC building
that day, a plan to start the healing process was born.
My growing sense of pride resurfaced again as I sat with the
Reverend Rosemary Bray-McNatt from UU Trauma Response Ministry
and TVUUC member Bill Dockery as they mentored newly-elected
TVUUC president Ted Jones and immediate past-president, Jane
Raparelli, in how to handle the relentless media demands that
were coming into the congregation. With phone consultation
from several UUA staffers including Kay Montgomery, Harlan
Limpert, and especially John Hurley and Janet Hayes, a plan
to respond appropriately and comfortably to the media was
born.
By late afternoon, I watched as UUA President, Bill Sinkford,
who had arrived only moments before, and TVUUC President,
Ned Jones, go to speak to the multiple media representatives
who had been camping out in the TVUUC parking lot waiting
for something they could report as the latest news. Bill and
Ned together couldn't have represented Unitarian Universalism
any better than they did standing on the front lawn, speaking
over rush-hour traffic, and talking about who we are as people
who accept all who come to us, not leaving anyone out, even
someone who eventually might come back to inflict such deep
pain on all of us. I didn't believe I could ever be more proud
of our faith and the liberal religious values we hold as I
was at that moment. But I soon learned how wrong I was.
After the media event was over, I made my way up the hill
to 2nd Presbyterian Church, a congregation literally right
next door, a congregation that sheltered our children as they
ran in panic from our church building Sunday morning, a congregation
that generously offered to host our debriefing sessions and
our public vigil that night. When I arrived at the church,
the debriefing sessions were underway but already people had
begun to arrive for the vigil. By the time the debriefing
sessions were over, the building was already filled to overflowing.
As the skies opened up with a torrential downpour of rain,
people from TVUUC, Westside UU Fellowship, the new UU satellite
congregation in Blount County, 2nd Presbyterian, people from
synagogues, from mosques, from area Christian churches, and
others from all over the Knoxville region scrambled to get
in from every open door in this large church complex.
Starting the service with an emotional rendition of Spirit
of Life, the Reverend Chris Buice, minister of TVUUC, gave
the opening words and identified the "power in this room."
"The presence of so many people from so many faith traditions
being here for our church means so much to us," he said.
The Reverend Bill Sinkford then helped us all try to accept
that it was not possible to make sense of such a senseless
act but that by owning our feelings of anger, grief, hurt,
helplessness and pain, we could work through this together.
Surprisingly to many of the non-UUs in the crowd, Bill's recounting
of a reporter's question about whether the man responsible
for this tragedy would go to hell brought spontaneous laughter
from the large UU contingent, a welcome break in the tension
of the day. But Bill's answer to the reporter's query returned
the congregation to somberness as he said, "In my religious
tradition, this man has already been living in hell here on
earth." It was Bill's clarity about how the strong social
justice tradition of this congregation will not let it retreat
in the wake of this tragedy that brought tears to my eyes.
He said that none of us can allow our pain and anger to keep
us from living our faith, from welcoming all people, from
standing on the side of love. "We will not let that happen,"
he said. "We will continue our commitment to welcoming
all people."
After
Bill's remarks, the Reverend Rosemary Bray-McNatt led us in
a silent candlelight meditation. As the darkened room brightened
with the hundreds of lit candles, she reminded us that we
are but one small light but when joined together with others,
our light will shine forth. The Reverend Mitra Jafarzedeh,
minister of Westside UU Fellowship, closed the service by
saying this was not a closing but a beginning. "Go forth
in light," she said, "be daring and audacious enough
to have hope. Let nothing silence us."
And
Mitra was right, we were just beginning. During the pre-service
debriefing session held with the cast of the play being performed
at the Sunday service, the members of the "Annie"
cast asked for the opportunity for some closure to the months
of work they had put into this performance. As Mitra finished
her words, the cast stepped forward at front of the sanctuary
and began singing the "Annie" theme song, Tomorrow.
The congregation spontaneously joined in singing with them
and after a few seconds, when the impact of this moment had
sunk in, the crowd erupted into applause, tears, shouts, cheers,
and many more tears. As the cast finished their grande finale,
they took their long-awaited bows to an adoring, grief-stricken,
and healing audience.
For those of you who don't remember all of the words of Tomorrow,
let me share them with you here.
The
sun'll come out
Tomorrow
Bet your bottom dollar
That tomorrow
There'll be sun!
Just thinkin' about
Tomorrow
Clears away the cobwebs,
And the sorrow
'Til there's none!
When
I'm stuck a day
That's gray,
And lonely,
I just stick out my chin
And Grin,
And Say,
Oh!
The
sun'll come out
Tomorrow
So ya gotta hang on
'Til tomorrow
Come what may
Tomorrow! Tomorrow!
I love ya Tomorrow!
You're always
A day
A way!
(Composer: Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin - From: Broadway
Musical "Annie")
I can't think of any more appropriate song to guide us all
through this dark time. "Proud of my faith" does
not even begin to describe my feelings as I stood there with
hundreds of other devastated members of a large interfaith
community, cheering our UU children into a brighter future.
Yours in faith and love,
Annette
Marquis
UUA announcement and Resources that may help
(July 28 - 10:15 PM)
In the wake of the tragic shootings on July 27, 2008 which
resulted in two deaths and injuries to six others, Unitarian
Universalists are rallying to offer ministry and support to
the affected members of the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist
Church and the Westside Unitarian Universalist Fellowship.
UUA
Thomas Jefferson District (TJD) Executive Annette Marquis
has arrived in Knoxville to provide support and guidance to
the Tennessee Valley and Westside congregations. Two members
of the Unitarian Universalist Trauma Response Ministry, Rev.
Rosemary Bray McNatt and Rev. Susan Suchoki Brown, are also
on the scene to provide additional support to members of the
two congregations directly affected by this tragedy. Retired
UU minister Rev. Gordon Gibson was attending the service on
Sunday morning when the shootings occurred; Gibson is among
those ministers now providing ministerial support on site.
Sue Sinnamon, TJD Director of Faith Development, also arrived
in Knoxville today to work with families and youth affected
by the tragedy.
UUA
President William G. Sinkford, who released a statement within
hours of the tragedy (see Statement by Rev. Sinkford) is now
in Knoxville and spoke tonight at a candlelight vigil held
at the Second Presbyterian Church, located next to the Tennessee
Valley Unitarian Universalist Church.
Additional
information and resources have been posted to UUA.org and
other sites. They include:
Trauma Response Resources for Families and Congregations,
now available at http://www.uua.org/leaders/leaderslibrary/leaderslibrary/117164.shtml
"Making Meaning After Disaster," a resource by Rev.
Sarah Gibb Millspaugh (Making Meaning After Disaster
Prayers from interfaith and international partners can be
found at: Prayers.
UUWorld.org has posted information and will continue to update
their pages. See uuworld.org/news for reporter Donald Skinner's
story on the tragedy.
Information on vigils and services of remembrance is being
collected and posted at Vigils and services.
The UUA has opened a web space for those who wish to share
messages of support with Unitarian Universalists of Knoxville.
Please visit this new site to read or to post your own message:
Support blog.
Information on the Unitarian Universalist response to the
Knoxville shootings will be updated regularly and posted at
News.
Thomas
Jefferson District of the UUA
SPECIAL NOTICE for TJD Leaders
July 28, 2008
The outpouring of love from so many of you in response to
the horrific events that took place in Knoxville yesterday
breathes incredible life into your covenant as a member congregation
of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
to offer other congregations your mutual trust and support.
On behalf of all the UU congregations in the Knoxville area,
and especially TVUUC and Westside UU Fellowship, who both
lost members in this tragedy, thank you.
Members of the UU Trauma Response Team and the TJD staff are
here in Knoxville with them to offer our support and love
on your behalf and to work with them to develop a plan for
dealing with this enormous tragedy. UUA President Bill Sinkford
will arrive in Knoxville this afternoon to be present with
them at their healing service tonight. The road will not be
easy but I believe that our deep and abiding faith in each
other will see them through. Please continue to hold the members
and friends of Tennessee Valley UU Church, Westside UU Fellowship,
the satellite congregation in Maryville, and Oak Ridge UU
Church in your hearts and prayers as they begin the arduous
process of recovery.
Every UU has been deeply impacted by this unspeakable violation
to one of our own. I encourage you to gather together in your
congregations and hold your own vigils, reach out to all of
your members, invite them into conversation, speak about your
own sadness and your own fears, find ways to be together in
this difficult time. Let the spirit of life and love hold
you all through this, for it is our courage, our commitment,
our love, and our acceptance of all people that guides us
through even the darkest hour.
And as always, if there is anything your congregation needs
to help you through this time, please do not hesitate to contact
the District Office. We are there for each of you.
In love,
Annette Marquis |
