Prayers ascending...

...for the members of the Tennessee Valley UU Church, for recovery for the wounded, for comfort for their traumatized children, and especially for Greg McKendry, who reportedly died a hero's death as he shielded the children from an intruder firing a shotgun in the sanctuary.

I'm sure I speak for the whole UU blogosphere in expressing our grief and our solidarity with our sisters and brothers in Knoxville.

[Update: Linda Kraeger, a visitor from the Westside Unitarian Universalist Church, hs died as well. It seems there were a number of kids and adults from Westside visiting TVUUC this morning. So now prayers are ascending for Linda and for Westside too. We hold all of them in our hearts this very sad day. And thanks also to the members of the neighboring Second Presbyterian Church, who took in and cared for the TVUUC kids fleeing the scene.]