By now you may have heard of the horrific shooting last night during a prayer service at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC, and the death of nine people. Among the dead were The Rev. Clementa Pinckney (age 41) and his sister. The Rev. Clementa Pinckney was a 2008 graduate of Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary (LTSS) in Columbia, SC. Dr. Susan McArver, a Professor of Church History and Educational Ministry at LTSS, who knew Pr. Clementa well, has drafted this message:
"Clementa came to LTSS as a student while simultaneously serving as a Representative (and later Senator) in the South Carolina Legislature, as well as a pastor of an AME church in rural Jasper County. While here, he and his wife Jennifer welcomed their first born, Eliana. The young family participated in campus picnics and other events."
"Clementa balanced all of these roles, as a legislator, pastor, student, husband and father, with a grace and wisdom well beyond his years. His quiet, thoughtful, and insightful comments in class and in our community made him highly respected among faculty, students, and staff. We all held him in such high esteem, that he was invited to give the commencement address at Ebenezer Lutheran Church for the graduating class of 2010."
"Please keep Pr. Clementa's entire family, including his wife Jennifer and his children Eliana and Malana in your prayers this day and in the coming weeks, as well as the entire community of Mother Emanuel AME church, the oldest AME church in the south. God is with you all"
America woke to the news this morning that yet another shooting massacre had taken place, yet another gunman had committed a heinous act of carnage in a setting where it might least be expected. But this time it was not in an elementary school, or a movie theater, or a community rally. It was in a church; an historic Black church in Charleston, South Carolina. Two of the victims were graduates of one of our ELCA seminaries. And it is now being reported that the shooter is a member of an ELCA congregation.
This gunman sat for an hour with his intended victims, taking part in a Bible study before he opened fire, and then reloaded his weapon until eight, and eventually nine people, were killed. It is being reported that he explained his racial motives to his victims during the shooting. This is not the first time that a house of worship has been the site of such hatred and violence -- Synagogues, Temples, Mosques and Churches have all been the scene of attacks in this country in the past few years. Sadly, I doubt this will be the last.
This tragedy begs for a response from us -- in prayer, conversation, discernment, advocacy and action. We must confront the issues of Racism which this shooting once again brings before our nation. We must confront issues of the prevalence of guns as well as violence as a solution to problems that is embedded in our culture. We must be vocal as followers of Jesus and as a Church when it comes to what our response will be. We must. Not because our redemption depends on our speaking and acting, that has already been tended to by God in Jesus Christ. Because this is not a time for our silence.
We must speak and act because our silence and inaction have already become complicity. Complicity born of a decision that this is not "our" problem, that Racism doesn't have insidious effects at every level of society, that more children and innocents will need to die before we chose to act with "courage instead of caution."* We in the church could help lead, rather than follow, a national conversation about how Racism is inflicting great harm on so many.
Please hold the people of "Mother Emanuel" African Methodist Episcopal Church, the people of Charleston and of this nation in your prayers as we seek the peace of Christ which is beyond all understanding. Please join in conversations in your congregation and community about how we might together discern, advocate and act - and be the visible presence of Christ. Please do not be silent.
I leave you with words which speak of God's presence and voice in a moment such as this, and a link to the synod eNews of the South Carolina Synod:
Psalm 121
I lift up my eyes to the hills-
from where will my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
God will not let your foot be moved;
God, who keeps you will not slumber.
God, who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade at your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.
The Lord will keep you from all evil;
and will keep your life.
The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time on and for evermore
Additional information:
Click here to read a message from Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton
Peace,
Bp. Mark
*a paraphrase of words from The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
