 Asalaamu alaikum. We are here as a community in this center of worship, a community so diverse, a community so welcoming, to mourn for the lives that were lost in New Zealand, but also to share an experience of loss ourselves as Americans. We have seen a carousel of hate across our globe. And no faith seems to be spared. It wasn't too long ago that this community came together to mourn with our Jewish friends after the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. We've mourned a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, a Baptist church in Charleston, Christians praying in Texas. And we come together today to say no faith is an enemy to the Muslim Americans, to the Muslim people of the Tri Valley. I want you to know, as the congressman of this area, that you are not only welcome, you are what makes this area thrive. Your strength, your courage, your prayers, your bonds with your friends. A couple years ago I was in Islamabad meeting with their national security advisor and I was presented with a rug, beautiful Pakistani rug. And I asked the person presenting me with the rug, what makes a rug of high value or a good quality rug? I confided in him that my wife and I usually only buy rugs at Target, so we didn't really know. And what he said to me, I'll never forget, he said, a high quality rug is one with the most knots per square inch. The more knots, the higher quality. And when he said that to me, I couldn't help but think of this beautiful community where we all live, that has become more and more diverse and more welcoming of different faiths and different people. And that it is our knots per square inch, the different threads of who we are, the diversity that is woven together, that is our strength and our quality. And we are stronger today because Jews and Muslims and Christians and Mormons and non-theists have come together to mourn. But what we also say is that if America is going to condemn the attack that happened in New Zealand, we can only have clarity and leadership in our condemnation if we too lead by example. And we must be honest that as a country, we're falling short. We have to take care of white nationalism in our own country. We have to take care of anti-Semitism in our own country. We have to take care of Islamophobia and a Muslim ban that still exists in our own country. Otherwise we are not pure and we are not leaders when we call on the rest of the world to denounce hate if we're not seen with credibility as doing it ourselves. So let us all individually in our own homes at our children's schools but also collectively and mosques like this band together and show our strength and expect more of those who lead us and expect that those who lead us will reflect what has bonded us all together. My heart breaks for Christchurch. Your heart breaks for Christchurch. But we're going to get stronger. We will heal from this and we will be able to look at our children and say that we came together after one of the greatest, most devastating tragedies that ever occurred to people of faith in our lifetime, people we had never met. And because we came together, our children's future was a little more inclusive, a little more accepting and a little more bright. Thank you to the MCC for convening us. Thank you to each and every one of you for caring so much to come and may the memories of those 50 individuals and ocean and time zones away never be lost but carried on in the respect and dignity we show for each other. People of different faith, people who are our neighbors, people who are all our fellow Americans. Thank you.