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With a test of the congregation’s capacity to forgive resting hard on members of the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universality Church, the local congregation pulled together Sunday to reflect on the July 27 shooting in Knoxville that has thrown so many lives into turmoil.

And forgiveness is a hard medicine to swallow, especially with the pain caused by the death of two people and injuries to seven others just one week in the past. Many aren’t there yet, including Foothills Unitarian Universalist Fellowship steering committee chairman Owen Rhodes, who spoke at length Sunday during a special meeting of the congregation at the Everett Senior Center in Maryville. Foothills UUF is an outreach ministry of TVUUC in Knoxville and holds services at the Everett Senior Center twice a month.

Forgiveness is not a gift you give to other people, Rhodes said after the service.
“Really, it’s me letting go of my anger and my hate and my anguish, so I can move on,” he said. “Forgiveness is a way to heal myself.

“I’m not there yet, but I’ll get there.”

And while forgiveness of Jim D. Adkisson — the man accused of walking into the TVUUC in Knoxville on July 27 with a shotgun and firing off three rounds, killing two and injuring seven others — may not be in the cards for everyone in the immediate future, Sunday’s Blount County service was also about support and community.

‘Friendship and family’

Representatives from various denominations attended the service, from United Methodists and Lutherans to Quakers and Presbyterians.

The Rev. Kevin Strickland, pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Maryville, told members of the local UUC that “we offer you a home to be with, where (there are) brothers and sisters that will hold you, and brothers and sisters that will offer prayer with you.”

The Rev. Wendy Neff, pastor of Highland Presbyterian, continued the thought.
“We offer not only our prayers for healing, but our hands extended in friendship and family, and we offer you our commitment to with you see justice for all of God’s people.”

Speaking before the service, Rhodes said the point of Sunday’s service, during which the Knoxville shooting was the focus, was to let the congregation know “that they’re not alone.”

“They’re good people and they are an increasingly vital part of this community,” he said.

Annette Marquis, district executive of the Thomas Jefferson District of the Unitarian Universalist Association, said Sunday that the entire UUA has felt the pain of the Knoxville shooting. But, “this community has been impacted pretty directly,” she said.

The outpouring of love from other religious groups — some of which have very different beliefs — has been amazing, Marquis said. “We really have found a way to reach out, and people have really reached in to us,” she said.

But the healing process, even with the help from others, is going to be long and painful.

“The scars are going to be there for a long time,” she said. “But I think on the whole, the congregations will recover.”

Dark waters

Speaking through parable during the service, Rhodes told the story of a man stuck in dark, stagnant water splintered off the river of time, whose heart and mind were poisoned by his anger and hate. So that man, “James,” tried to poison the rest of the river, but failed.

“We are the church for anyone who wants to come to church,” Rhodes said. “We close our doors to no one, we open our hearts to everyone.

“We cannot allow the horrifying action of one who fell under the spell of those dark voices while languishing in those dark waters, to drive us away from that cause,” he said. We must continue to carry with us our compassion for the downtrodden, our kindness for the marginalized. We must keep our hearts and minds open to the wisdom that is so often revealed in the faith, deeds and experiences of those who are different from us.”

Equating the shooting in Knoxville to a bump — a large one — in the river, Rhodes said the church is still in control of its final destination.

“Our boat has been bumped in the stream,” he said. “Whether or not (the final destination) is one of light and hope and virtue, or whether it’s a place of isolation suspicion and fear, depends on how we paddle.

“Will we emerge from this event still able to maintain a dialog with those who disagree with us?” he asked. “Or will our own fears — our fears of, and prejudice toward, those who are more conservative than us — become stronger and take hold of our congregation and prevent us from seeing ... the divine spark, the inherent worth and dignity in all people?”

Forgiveness is “a kind of medicine that you take to heal yourself from the wounds and anger, fear, resentment and guilt,” Rhodes said. “I encourage you all to take that medicine.”

Posed with the question after the service of what he would say if given the chance to sit with Adkisson — who is alleged to have chosen the TVUUC in Knoxville for the shooting due to the “liberal” stance of the church — Rhodes said he would apologize.

“I think I would tell him that I’m sorry he got so lost,” Rhodes said. “I’m sorry that he hates me.

“And I hope someday he can forgive himself.”