KANSAS CITY, Mo. — "The world tells us that violence reins supreme," Father John Spicer of St. Andrews Episcopal Church said.
But he is done with the violence in Kansas City.
"It wasn't really a sermon on politics," Spicer said. "It was a sermon about people coming together to try make a difference people can make."
Spicer went out of his comfort zone this week and spoke about the recent shootings.
While his church is in Brookside, which hasn't seen a lot of violence, he's creating a group of his church members, all with different views, to discuss the topic of gun violence, because he believes it affects everyone.
"They have decided they want to come together to learn how to develop relationships with each other rather than trying to convince one another that they are right and they are wrong," Spicer said.
He is not the only pastor who has spoken about violence during the last week.
"He laid down his life to serve other people, that was my three-point sermon, and you are not going to hear that sermon today," Church of the Resurrection Pastor Adam Hamilton said during his most recent Sunday sermon.
Hamilton knew 25-year-old Erin Langhofer, who was shot and killed Aug. 2 outside a food truck at First Fridays in the Crossroads Art District of Kansas City, Missouri.
"She was always serving for the underdog and so special," Hamilton said.
He wanted to tell his congregation how cruel the city has gotten.
"We need better people," Hamilton said.
These pastors said they want to help those who only see the worst in the world.
"Maybe this will help us turn our hearts a little more directly toward those whose stories risk becoming just more ugly noise to ignore on the evening news," Spicer said.
Hamilton echoed that sentiment, "We've got to look at how do we care for our little children and give them the sense that they are loved and that they have a future with hope? Because kids who believe they have a future don't pick up guns and shoot other kids."
