Did you attend worship this weekend? Kudos!

Our country is proud of its freedoms. As every elementary student learns, freedom of religion was the very reason the Pilgrims fled England and came to live on these shores.

Yet here we are over 300 years later, and as the Pittsburgh synagogue shootings clearly show, some of our citizens are targeted for their religion. How do we move forward? 

Our reaction might be to hide our faith under a rock, to worship our God in the privacy of our own homes, and to keep the outward symbols of our faith hidden from public view. 

That would give evil power over us. We can't let that happen. We won't. 

As the synagogue's rabbi said, we move forward in love. We respect one another. We hold true to who we are. 

If you wear symbols of your faith, speak your faith, or in any other way live out your faith in God, well done. 

If you attended a worship service this weekend, you demonstrated courage in the face of evil. Well done. 

Every day, millions of Americans and billions of people around the world give thanks to the higher power that connects us all. May it continue to be so.