My heart is heavy from yesterday’s news of the Orlando shooting. And as I saw people sharing their thoughts, sadness, frustration, and anger, I thought “what else can I say that other’s aren’t already saying?” So I’ve kept my thoughts to myself.

I don’t often share things about my faith because I don’t like being preachy. I’m afraid that I’m going to offend someone. I don’t want to say the wrong thing and be pointed out as a hypocrite.

But as we are offering our thoughts and prayers—if we are praying “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”—that assumes that some action needs to be taken. There must be some action done here on earth to bring it closer as it is in heaven.

I can’t stay silent; we can’t be silent when our fellow brothers and sisters are grieving, even if that action is simply and humbly saying “my heart is broken and I am with you.”

All lives matter. Hate and violence is never the answer. We need to stop letting religion, politics, and pride be excuses for dividing us. We are called to LOVE and bring LIGHT into the darkness—love casts out fear. May our words and actions demonstrate this as we stumble along on this earth, and hope that it will one day be restored to something more beautiful.