Many of us have gathered here this morning with heavy hearts and troubled minds over the tragic events of last Sunday. One of our sister UU congregations in Knoxville, Tennessee experienced the sudden and brutal violence of a lone gunman during last Sunday's service in which children were performing selections from the musical "Annie." Knowing this and grieving the deaths of two church members there and the critical condition of six more may have made it difficult for some of us to feel safe in coming to church this morning. We know that the unbalanced man who took these desperate measures was fueled by hate language directed toward liberals combined with a personal situation of estrangement and unemployment.

Yes, our sense of safety has been shattered and we are feeling despair and compassion for the UU congregation with its adults and precious children who were traumatized by the incident. Be assured that the Knoxville UU community is receiving excellent trauma support both through the trained personnel from our denomination and through local organizations in Knoxville such as the Red Cross. Messages of condolence and support can be sent to Knoxville by mail or through the UUA website.

At the interfaith memorial service held this week, over a thousand people from Knoxville gathered to grieve and support each other. While healing will take time for all of us, a powerful tribute to our UU strength and endurance was celebrated as the theme song from "Annie" was sung by the children during the memorial service. "Th Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow." (pause)

In response to the Knoxville incident, some members of our UU community in Pensacola were painfully reminded of tragic events in our past at local health clinics and the lives lost, including church member Jim Barrett and local physicians. On top of this anger and grief, we received the terrible news that a recent speaker at our church had died from a boating accident, also last Sunday.

Michal Elboim, the 24 year old Israeli emissary who spoke at UUCP a few short weeks ago, was to return to Israel this week. She fell from the bow of the boat as it turned and was caught underneath which fatally injured her. We join with Michal's community here and her community and family in Israel who are grieving this tragic loss.

Before we continue with this morning's service we will light these two candles and ask for a minute of silence to honor these two terrible tragedies. The larger candle represents the UU congregation in Knoxville, its surrounding community and all our sister congregations who are joined in sorrow over the event of last Sunday. The smaller white candle represents the life of Michal Elboim and her youthful enthusiasm which shall remain burning in our hearts as we remember her. Please join with me in a time of silence as we remember them and hold them all in our loving thoughts and prayers.