As Pastors, as ministers, as men and women who have answered God’s call to serve God’s people, we stand with the community of Cambridge as we struggle to make sense of the violence that has shaken the streets of our city. While we believe that “earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal,” we also know that sorrow can grip us in mighty ways during moments of tragedy and grief like the one that we experience now. But we are determined that the death and destruction of this current moment will not have the last word.
We stand united in prayer for the family of young Charlene Holmes, whose tremendous sense of loss cannot even be articulated with mere words. We stand ready to support and assist her family in any way that we can, not just with our prayers, but with the hands, and the hearts, and the treasures that God has placed in our lap. We stand as well with the family of Tanialee Cotto, and we believe in the healing power of God to touch her wounds and restore her strength.
We know that the violence that has struck our community is seeded in a deep sense of hopelessness, aimlessness, and mercilessness and that all of these things are distractions from the God who has made us with purpose, passion, and a plan. We do not believe that any of us are beyond the reach of God’s love, the grasp of God’s grace, or the measure of God’s mercy. And so as we stand united in prayer for the victims and their families, we also stand united in prayer for those who have fired the weapons, for those who have instigated the violence that has caused such pain and such sorrow. We are prepared to bear witness to the beauty of God even in the midst of the ugliness that has consumed some of God’s children in this moment.
We believe that the work must begin right now – the work of healing, of comforting, of loving – but we believe that that work must go on and go deeper into our communities, and into our neighborhoods, and into our homes. We are committed to be present not just in the current moment, but in the days, and the weeks, and the months, and the years to come. We are committed to be a force for peace, and to demonstrate our faith by our works.
This is our prayer, in Jesus name. Amen.
In the service of Christ,
(Signatories)

Pastor Warren F. Collins
Calvary Praise & Worship Center

Pastor Thomas Dickerson
Rush Memorial AME Zion Church

Rev. Paul R. Ford
Union Baptist Church

Rev. Kazimiera I.H. Fraley
Cambridge First Church of the Nazarene

Pastors Chris & Ishtar Gleason
Grace Street Church

Bishop Brian C. Greene
Pentecostal Tabernacle Church

Rev. Henry O. Johnson Jr.
First Baptist Church

Rev. Dr. Lynda Jordan
A Place to Heal Ministries, Inc.

Pastor Larry Kim
Cambridge Community Fellowship Church (CCFC)

Pastor Kent Murawski
Journey Church

Pastor Sherman Shelley
Hope Lighthouse Christian Church

Pastor Dave Schmelzer
Vineyard Church Cambridge

The Rev. Leslie Sterling
St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church

Pastor Dan Szatkowski
Cambridgeport Baptist Church

Pastors Darrell & Bethany Temple
Justice House of Prayer

Rev. Lorraine A.Thornhill
First Holiness Church

Pastor Clayton Ward
Christian Mission Holiness Church

Pastor Larry Ward
Abundant Life Church-Cambridge

Rev. Dr. Marilyn E. Weekes
Spirit of Power Living Word Ministries International

Rev. Melvin E. Wilson, Pastor
St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church