"You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Greetings! It is a sad day. It is a day when the dream of peace can seem very far away. It is a day that emotions run high, and we do not really know what to do. It is a day when the instruction to "love your enemies" seems completely unreasonable. At times like this, we who are aware of Truth have a special responsibility- to put our Light on the lampstand and shine brightly. It is a time to turn within, and do the only work that can really change anything. That work, of course, is prayer. I invite you to join with me in turning away from the chaos and become still. Turn off the television and the radio and the barrage of news outlets, and turn within. Right here and right now, you can begin the healing process for our community by stopping participation in the "us vs. them" mindset that has turned our nation into a house divided. We are not separate. We are not on opposite sides of anything. We are one. We are each - yes, every single one of us - a valuable, necessary part of the whole that is Oneness. As we let go of the outer noise, we come together to know Wholeness. We come together and breathe the Truth that we know. There is only One Power, there is only One Presence. We believe that each one of us has within us the connecting spark of Divinity that cannot be extinguished. We know that, whether that spark is shining brightly or barely shining at all, that it is there and it is within each of us and it is eternal. We believe that, since we are each beloved expressions of God, Spirit, Oneness- that we are inherently Good, that we are inherently Love. Yes- along the outer, human path we encounter those who would disagree with us, we encounter those who have beliefs completely different from us, and we encounter those who would seem to have no spark of the Divine within them. But that is not the Truth! That is not what is Real, what is Eternal, what is Everlasting. The events of today are not the fruits of Truth. The events of today are the results of pain, anger, disappointment, frustration... all of those human emotions that result from a belief in separation, that result from the the belief in lack, limitation. The events today are the result of fear. When we return to what we know, when we look only at what is True, we can breathe and relax. When we return to That Which is All-Good, All-Power, All-Love, we can breathe and say, "Yes. This is my Truth. This is what I know. There is only One Power, One Presence, God - Spirit - Oneness- Beingness- Wholeness. I am a part of that, and so is each person before me. I am a part of that, and so are those who were injured. I am a part of that, and so is each of those who is hurting today because someone they love and care about was injured. I am a part of that, and so are the doctors and nurses and caregivers. I am a part of that, and so is my neighbor, regardless of our political differences. I am a part of that, and so is the person who did this thing today. We are told "Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment" (John 7:24). We know this thing today is painful, but we cannot really know more than that. Beyond that, we are told to love our neighbor as ourself, and that we must forgive. And the only way to really do that is to look to our Oneness. We know that Life is eternal. We know that there are many expressions of Life and that what we see here is not the completeness of Life. We join in prayer claiming peace for those who are now experiencing the next steps along their journey, we enfold those who are in pain over what has transpired today, knowing that that "in my father's house are many mansions" and that what we may call death is not an ending, but the beginning of another step along the journey of Wholeness. Thank you for your willingness to turn away from the outer and join me in claiming the Truth of Wholeness. We frequently state that the best definition of God is that God is Love. I thank you for your willingness to be that Love in expression. Blessings to each of you, Nita