In the midst of our shock and outrage, our fear and anxiety, it is easy to feel paralyzed. We feel called to do something after the events in Charlottesville this weekend. It is hard to know what to do, and so we begin by gathering as a community and lighting candles.
Some who watch on the outside of the circle might wonder why we do this. Some of you here may wonder why.
We gather tonight out of a sense of sorrow: sorrow over the fact that such great hatred still fills the hearts of so many in our nation; sorrow over the promise of violence that this hatred carries; sorrow over the fruits of that violence carried out before our eyes. We are here tonight to mourn all those injured, and for Heather Heyer, may her name be remembered.
In our sorrow, we gather in solidarity with our one human family and all those who seek what is best in the human spirit; solidarity with the people of Charlottesville, of all of Virginia — though we are separated by distance, we are bound together closely in our desire for justice and our belief in the best our country has to offer; and solidarity especially with people of color, with indigenous people, and all whose very existence is threatened by violent hatred — we see you, we love you, and we will stand with you, ready to say “no” again and again to the deadly sin of white supremacy.
And we gather tonight as a signal to all in our own community who feel called by the light of love and justice that we will stand with you; to all in our community who might feel inspired by the hatred shown in Charlottesville, we are ready to stand against you.
After tonight, the work ahead may seem monumental, the darkness of this weekend past may seem all-enveloping. Where do we begin? We begin by lighting a candle. It seems a small thing. But if it is better to light one candle than to curse the dark, better still to light thousands than be swallowed by it whole.
May tonight’s gathering be our first step in the work of restoring what is best in our nation, the first step in calling forth the good in the hearts of our one human family.
Gathered here in the presence of one another’s light, may we find the courage and the strength to say “No,” to stand up to hatred tomorrow and the next day and the next.
We ask this tonight in the name of the Spirit of all Life and all Love, the God known by many names. And in the names of the exemplars of the human spirit, known and unknown, present and absent, remembered and forgotten. In the names of all the helpers of humankind.
Amen.