【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 ewish facilities a munity center and a retirement home. innocentpeople were killed. their families were devastated. and this violence has struck the heart ofthe jewish munity in kansascity.
　　two of the victims agrandfather and his teenage [grand] son attended the unitedmethodist churchof the resurrection, which is led by our friend reverend adam of you may know that during myinauguration, reverend hamilton delivered the sermonat the prayer service atthe national cathedral. and i wasgrateful for his presence and hiswords. he joined us at our breakfast last year. and at the easter service for palm sunday lastnight, he had to breakthis terrible news to his congregation.
　　that this occurred now as jewswere preparing to celebrate passover, as christians wereobserving palm sundaymakes this tragedy all the more painful. and today, as passoverbegins, weamp。39。re seeing a number of synagogues andjewish munity centers take addedsecurity precautions. nobody should have to worry about theirsecurity when gathering withtheir fellow believers. no one should ever have to fear for theirsafety when they go to pray.
　　and as a government, weamp。39。re goingto provide whatever assistance is needed to support theinvestigation. as americans, we not only need to open ourhearts to the families of the victims,weamp。39。ve got to stand united against thiskind of terrible violence, which has no place in oursociety. and we have to keep ing together acrossfaiths to bat the ignorance andintolerance, including antisemitism thatcan lead to hatred and to violence, because weamp。39。reall children of god. weamp。39。re all made in his image, all worthy ofhis love and dignity. and we seewhathappens around the world when this kind of religiousbased or tinged violencecan rear itsugly head. itamp。39。s got no placein our society.
　　so this easter week, of course werecognize that thereamp。39。s a lot of pain and a lot of sin and alot of tragedy inthis world, but weamp。39。re also overwhelmed by the grace of an awesome god. weamp。39。rereminded how he loves us, so deeply,that he gave his only begotten son so that we might livethrough him. and in these holy days, we recall all thatjesus endured for us the scorn of thecrowds and the pain of thecrucifixion, in our christian religious tradition we celebrate theglory of theresurrection all so that we might be forgiven of our sins and grantedeverlastinglife.
　　and more than 2,000 years later,it inspires us still. we are drawn tohis timeless teachings,challenged to be worthy of his sacrifice, to emulate asbest we can his eternal example tolove one another just as he loves us. and of course, weamp。39。re always reminded each andevery daythat we fall short of that example. and none of us are free from sin, but we look to his life andstrive,knowing that “。if we love one another, god lives in us, and his love isperfected in us.”。
　　iamp。39。ll tell you, i felt this spiritwhen i had the great honor of meeting his holiness, popefrancis,recently. i think itamp。39。s fair to say thatthose of us of the christian faith, regardless of ourdenomination, have beentouched and moved by pope francis. now,some of it is his words his message of justice and inclusion, especially forthe poor and the outcast. he implores ustosee the inherent dignity in each human being. but itamp。39。s also his deeds, simple yet profoundhugging the homeless man, and washing the feet of somebody who normallyordinary folkswould just pass by on the street. he reminds us that all of us, no matter whatour station, havean obligation to live righteously, and that we all have anobligation to live amp。39。s, in fact, the example that we profess to follow.
　　so i had a wonderful conversationwith pope francis, mostly about the imperatives ofaddressing poverty andinequality. and i invited him to e tothe united states, and isincerely hope he will. when we exchanged gifts he gave me a copy ofhis inspiring writings, “。the joy of the gospel.”。 and there is a passage that speaks to ustoday: “。christamp。39。s resurrection,”。hewrites, “。is not an event of the past。 it contains a vital power which haspermeated this world.”。and he adds,”。jesus did not rise in vain. may wenever remain on the sidelines of this march ofliving hope!”。
　　so this morning, my main messageis just to say thank you to all of you, because you donamp。39。tremain on thesidelines. i want to thank you for yourministries, for your good works, for themarching you do for justice anddignity and inclusion, for the ministries that all of you attendto and havehelped organize throughout your munities each and every day to feedthehungry and house the homeless and educate children who so desperately need have made a difference inso many different ways, not only here in the united states butoverseas aswell. and that includes a cause close tomy heart, my brotheramp。39。s keeper, an initiativethat we recently launched to makesure that more boys and young men of color can overethe odds and achievetheir dreams.
　　and weamp。39。re joined by several faithleaders who are doing outstanding work in this areamentoring and helping youngmen in tough neighborhoods. weamp。39。re alsojoined by some of theseyoung men who are working hard and trying to be goodstudents and good sons and goodcitizens. and i want to say to each of those young men here, weamp。39。re proud of you,and we expecta lot of you. and weamp。39。regoing to make sure that weamp。39。re there for you so that you then in turn willbethere for the next generation of young men.
　　and i mention all this because ofall of our many partners for my brotheramp。39。s keeper, itamp。39。s clergylike you and yourcongregations that can play a special role to be that spiritual andethicalfoundation, that rock that so many young men need in their lives.
　　so i want to thank all of you whoare already involved. i invite those whoare not to get moreinformation, see if you can join in this effort as brothersand sisters in christ who “。never tire ofdoing good.”。
　　in closing, iamp。39。ll