My tears mingled with your tears. 
My screams of agony were heard before you could utter your own.
I knew your fears, your anger, your despair before they were birthed within you.
I am closer to your heart than you are now or ever will be.
And I do so love you.

I was in the last breath of those who died,
    and gave breath to those who survived.
I was in the heroic deeds of the firefighters and police officers 
    who gave their life that others might live.
I grieve with those who grieve.
I weep with those who weep.
I see out through the eyes of every picture on the wall of memory.
I hold those who fasten those pictures to the wall, 
    those who feel so hopeless and alone...
        parents who lost children,
            children who lost parents,
                lovers and spouses,
                    neighbors and friends.
And I do so love you.
 

I am exhausted with those who move heaps of concrete and steel to find the victims.
I am persistent with those who piece together the evidence of this week's criminal acts.
I am in the farewell's of those called to active duty.
I am in the conversations of your military and world leaders, 
    whispering my hope for sound reasoning and diplomatic endeavors.
Because I do so love you.

I am at the bedside of all who suffer. 
I am in the hands that dress wounds; and with those who perform surgery. 
I stand in line with those who wait to give blood.
    I am deeply touched by the tender acts and the generous outpouring of love--
        neighbor to neighbor, stranger to stranger--
        even as I condemn acts of racial prejudice and bigotry visited upon
        innocent Arab Americans and Muslim world citizens.
I am encouraged by the unity and the inclusive communities of care and compassion 
    that have spontaneously erupted through your catastrophic events.
And I do so love you.

I am in the hearts of children and youth whose lives have been inalterably changed
    by these events. 
I am in the hard questions that they ask.
    I am in the arms of parents and grandparents
       as they cradle and console their children and their children's children.
And I do so love you.

Always in solidarity with the poor, with the oppressed, with the victimized,
    I have been one with you this week 
    as you have recognized what it means to be vulnerable.
I know your unspeakable thoughts, as you reckon with your own country's complicity
    in enabling a world of such violence.
I know your pain as you realize how your beloved nation has exploited others
    in the name of economic gain, political power and military might.
May you have the courage to repent and seek forgiveness,
    even as you commit yourself to dismantling systemic evil and creating restorative justice.
I am in your faithfulness to the Gospel.
Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with Me.
I am your Hope.
And I do so love you.

With you, I deplore the evil of terrorism.
It is unleashed hatred
It is making an ideology an idol.
    There is nothing of God's intent in these deeds of terror.
    I understand your human desire to seek revenge;
    to want to retaliate; 
    to demand an eye for and eye.
    But this only leaves everyone blind.
When I came among you, I taught you that God desired a world where
    violence did not beget more violence; where hatred did not birth more hatred.
I beseech you to think and act out of love.
It is probably the most difficult thing that I ask. 
    Love your enemies. 
And I do so love you.

With you I pray that the world leaders will be wise in their deliberations
    and find a way to punish the perpetrators without causing death and destruction
        to those who are innocent.
I understand your fears.
It is as if life is out of control. Evil looms and threatens and provokes more fear. 
    Do not be afraid, my beloved disciples. 
    Peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you.
And I do so love you.

I will provide you with the hope to carry on. 
As a congregation, you have been so faithful over the years
    in your efforts to bring peace with justice to many corners of this world. 
I understand how the events of this week leave you feeling impotent.
    I am in your anguish as you struggle with the weight and size and dimensions
        of the powers and principalities of evil.
But I came that you might have life and have it abundantly. 
Evil and fear and impotency will not have the final say. 
Love will triumph.
And I do so love you.

I know your fears about the future. 
I am grieved beyond words that all of God's beloved creation is at stake.
    Find courage to seek non-violent solutions to the pervasive evils
        of terrorism and war and nuclear armament that haunt our world.
Pray. Listen. Mediate. Dialogue. 
Be prophetic.
Love one another as I love you.
    It is not vengeance that heals. It is love.
And I do so love you.

"My dreams, my dreams. I do not even think of letting them go.
Your fear says you can do so little,
    you can only bear so much,
    you simply have to cope.

Open to me, my beloved. 
Surrender to me.
And let your surrender be so complete, so utterly perfect
    that the only thing left that is yours is your searing love.
Only love, love delicate, love fierce,
    love angry, love disappointed, love overjoyed,
    love mistaken, love triumphant, love broken, love aching.
Relinquish everything to make room for my love."*
And then, my beloved, be extravagant in loving one another.
And remember always, that I do love you so.