Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ:

The violence that has taken the life of Deacon Valerie Adams Daniel, leaving her children without their parents, is simultaneously unfathomable and all-too-familiar.

Last evening, members and friends of the College Hill Community Presbyterian Church gathered together in remembrance, assurance and prayer in support of one another to continue a process by which we all may know that through a time of great sorrow and tragedy, God is indeed with us. It was a time of praise and thanksgiving for Valerie's life and ministry. It was a time of great sadness for the loss of this vital and gracious woman. It was a time of reaching out in love and care for her children and family. And it was also a time of anger and outrage - as indeed it should be.

But even through this anger and outrage was a clear sense that it will be through grace that a path toward reconciliation and forgiveness will unfold, and through the great range of emotion present there was an overwhelming desire to follow Jesus Christ in anticipation of that path's unfolding.

The presbytery, which is all of us, will be assisting over the coming weeks and months in allowing grieving to reveal and develop as it may, whether it is through gatherings, counseling or fellowship. If you wish to become actively involved, please contact me. And please continue to lift up the families and the congregation and the whole community in prayer as we seek healing, guidance, and reconciliation. Pray too, for Pastor Robert E. Jones - this is a very difficult time for him as he shepherds others through this darkness.

This is, of course, not the first time that our presbytery has been struck by violence and tragedy, although of course, we hope that it might be the last. And in many ways, despite popular commentary, we really will probably never be able to "understand" nor "accept" what has happened. Because we should not, and as followers of Jesus Christ, we cannot be silent.