My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, the people of our nation have been enduring a lively publicized Tsunami of violence and hatred for several decades. Violence strikes our children when they are presumed to be safe in schools as in Columbine and Newtown. It strikes when we are conducting ordinary business in an Oklahoma City building. When it snatches the lives of people of color even in the case of being apprehended when they are engaged in pray, we are horrified. Roman Catholic Church There was a young man that really got to me. His mother was killed. He expressed Christ like I have rarely heard expressed from folk that have done you wrong. All of us get done wrong from time to time. We don't understand that when folk do you wrong that you still treat them well. I am not responsible for how people treat me. I am only responsible for how I treat them. Seventh Day Adventist Church This week in Charleston, South Carolina a lost son came to church. He came to a particular church. Having researched the history of that church, he understood the power of the African American Church as a symbol of resistance against white supremacy in this country. He violated the sanctuary in God's house. It could have been me. It could have been each and every one of us. AME Zion Church The most common question I get from folk who talk to me is pastor what good can come from this evil, the killing of nine innocent people or nine men and women who were God fearing, the nine men and women who were serving the Lord who were faithful? Folk are wrestling with this. They are asking what good can come out of this evil. The second question I get is why does God allow this to happen? The first thing that comes from this passage in this text is that God is in control. Some of us got a mixed up theology. That is a relationship with God. We think that everything that is good that happens in my life comes from God and everything that is bad in my life comes from the devil. Atlanta AME Church That man done killed nine people. He was recognized on a freeway. They pulled him over and arrested him. No one shot him in his chest or back. They gently put the cuff on him. No one threw him in the back of a van. They flew him from North to South Carolina. I got news for you. There is a change coming. Just hold on a little while longer. If I don't see you in the morning, remember what I said. Baptist Church The African Methodist Episcopal Church's discipline says they have a primary task to invite people into relationship with God through Jesus Christ. That is what it says on the first page of the discipline. Episcopal Church I am reminded by some news media person who said wonder why the nine families all spoke of forgiveness and didn't have malice in their heart. On this Father's Day you ought to know the nine families' daddy. If you knew the nine families' daddies, you would know how the children are behaving. Emanuel AME Church He was a preacher by 13, pastor by 18, and a public servant by 23. What a life he lived. What an example he set. What a model for his faith and then to lose him at 41. President Obama Eulogy I tend, for instance, as I suspect many of us do, to default to work that I have done as a defense; a justification, against my own sin. Presbyterian Church I come into this worship experience after the 7:00 am worship service. I held the 7:00 am crowd hostage and we had good ole fashion prayer meeting. You may get a sermon today, they did not. We just prayed and sang. There is no way we could come to worship today as people of God and act as if this is a normal day. It is not normal. United Methodist Church