Weekly thoughts from the Rector of Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church in Houston, Texas, where these words remind us that Jesus’ peace goes with us into the world.

Last Wednesday, I joined a diverse group of religious leaders and representatives from Interfaith Ministries of Greater Houston and the Anti-Defamation League for a press conference at City Hall with Mayor Sylvester Turner. Beforehand there was an opportunity to write condolences for the family of Heather Heyer, who was killed last weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia, by a neo-Nazi terrorist. Another book allowed us to express our prayers for health and healing to Natalie Romero, a Bellaire High School graduate who was seriously injured in the same violent attack.

In response the voices of hatred and white supremacy that were on public display last weekend in marches through Charlottesville, Mayor Turner had this to say:

You cannot be complicit through your silence, and you cannot be complicit through your nuance. There comes a time when faith leaders, community leaders, leaders from all walks [of life], must stand together, shoulder to shoulder, and say that we respect one another regardless of our language, our faith, our ethnicity, where we come from, geography, that we stand as one. And so people of goodwill and faith must come together, and we must be the voices of reason that stand up and come forth in these very dark moments. . . .

And if you will allow this mayor to say this, prayer does work. . . . . It’s hard to tear down, to divide, and practice hatred when you’re praying for one another. So do pray for one another, do pray for our city. I do believe in that.
. . . It is important for Houstonians and others to see people standing together and being with one another. It’s important for them to hear this message. . . . This is our house, and we are all Houstonians. And let’s love and respect and appreciate one another, and pray for one another.

— The Rev. Neil Alan Willard, Rector