May God Bring Healing

Dear Pali Pres Family,

“If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.”

(1 Corinthians 12:26).

Rev. Dr. Victor Aloyo, Jr., president of Columbia Theological Seminary (CTS) in Atlanta, GA, recently quoted this scripture in a letter he wrote to the students, alumni, and faculty of CTS (I graduated from Columbia in 2004). He was writing in response to the terrible tragedy out of Monterey Park, where eleven people were killed and nine others wounded last Saturday night. On an evening that should have been filled with fun festivities in celebration of the Lunar New Year, an act of incomprehensible cruelty turned it into a night of horror and suffering.

Like everyone in our nation right now, my heart goes out to all victims of senseless violence. In particular, I am holding in my heart the families and friends who lost someone during this terrible act of bloodshed and the attack in Half Moon Bay. My heart is also lifting up all those in the Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander community who are especially pained by what took place in Monterey Park.

As we struggle to come to grips with yet two more mass shootings, I invite us to join in a time of collective lament and mourning. May we each hold in our heart the people impacted, as we also remind ourselves of how interconnected we are as human beings who are all created in the image of God. As scripture teaches us, if one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it.

May God bring healing to our suffering nation and the Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay communities. May God bring healing to all who are suffering in body or mind, and may God’s love lead us all into a place of comfort and hope.

Yours in Christ,

Pastor Matt