Last Sunday a parishioner shared that they were distracted in worship by disturbing thoughts. "What would they do this morning in the event that an active shooter came in to worship brandishing an assault weapon?", they pondered.

Another parishioner shared that their spouse's family lost four children in Uvalde. The sorrow and heaviness in their face was deep, their voice low.

A third parishioner had gone to Uvalde to volunteer to help the students as they began summer school. Only one third of the anticipated students were in attendance. The others were too afraid, too traumatized to come.

As we prepare to build the float for the Pride Parade, a fourth parishioner expressed dismay that a band of white supremacists were organized to attack a Pride celebration in Idaho. "Sometimes I wonder if it is better to go back in the closet," they mused.

Our spirits are troubled. We know that something is not right when anxiety and fear gnaw at our minds. It is in moments like these that we need to remember the words of Jesus we heard a few weeks ago, "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in the Father and believe also in me." The power of belief and trust in God is a protective coat against the corrosion of fear, grief, worry, dread. It is not that we don't feel these feelings, nor that they are not justified, given our situation. Rather, they are not the more powerful than the love and presence of God.