As seen on Psychology today
fter this weekend’s back-to-back mass shootings in Dayton and El Paso, the latter of which appears to have been motivated by hate-fueled ideologies, many of us are left wondering how to respond and move forward toward a better future both individually and as a nation.
A place to begin is to listen to the voices of survivors of past shootings, like Rev. Sharon Risher, who lost her mother and two cousins in the Emanuel shooting, and recently published a powerful new book For Such a Time As This: Hope and Forgiveness After the Charleston Massacre, sharing her story of faith, family, and loss.
This past June, Rev. Risher joined me at the Humanitarian Disaster Institute at Wheaton College along with Prayers & Action for a pre-screening of the film Emanuel, in which she is featured. The touching documentary (produced by Academy Award-winning actress Viola Davis and NBA superstar Stephen Curry) chronicles the night that families of the “Emanuel Nine” offered up their forgiveness four years prior.