At the Taiwanese church, it might have been any Sunday morning. Elderly couples trudged into the church holding hands.

The Lord’s Prayer was led by Pastor Albany Lee, who was lit by blue light from the stained-glass window behind him.

A week before, though, the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church had been rocked by an unspeakable atrocity. After the morning ceremony, a man opened fire at a meal, killing one person and injuring five others.

David Wenwei Chou, 68, of Las Vegas, has been charged with murder and attempted murder in connection with the shooting at Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods, where the Taiwanese church rents space.

Chou, like the majority of the church members, was born in Taiwan. However, his parents were from mainland China, and prosecutors claim he was motivated by his opposition to Taiwanese independence, a cause long supported by the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan. On Sunday, about 140 churchgoers gathered for service, their faith rattled but not broken.

“We cannot control people’s evil, but we can rely on your good,” Lee preached in Taiwanese, a dialect that was once suppressed by the Kuomintang government. “Because we deeply believe: God’s goodwill overcomes people’s evil.”

Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to the United States, Bi-Khim Hsiao, attended the service, as did Louis M. Huang, director-general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles.