CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

Love Is Stronger than Hate

these leaders had experienced, and yet to be included in this moment was profoundly sacred and humbling. Still in shock, residents of the city from all races,

backgrounds, and perspectives gathered to worship. We sang traditional hymns in the unique African church style. Our hearts were knit together as we sang. The words were powerful, the voices were energetic, the experience was transformative. Men and women, white and black, young and old, all felt the beauty of the presence of Christ in worship. Our governor, mayor, and congressman each spoke

of faith and courage in the midst of the pain our city was experiencing. The Word of God was read, then church leaders spoke. One after another, pastors and bishops gave testimony to God’s grace. The head bishop of the AME Church, John Bryant, noted that the killer was a terrorist. He wanted to generate fear, chaos, and mistrust. A race war was his goal. Bishop Bryant wisely observed, “he went to the wrong place ... he went to church.” He explained further, reminding us that fear and hatred do not belong in church. With profound depth, he preached the power of the grace of Jesus Christ to overcome hatred. Every soul was touched. The healing of the city began in an African American church. As people gathered around televisions to watch the service, homes and offices became sanctuaries. That evening, Chris Singleton, a student at a local Baptist

Emanuel AME Church By Marshall Blalock T

he shock reverberated throughout Charleston. The evening of June 17 had been like any other Wednesday night in this scenic coastal city. People were eating dinner, walking

along the waterfront, enjoying the warm summer breeze. Many downtown churches were finishing mid-week prayer and Bible study activities. At Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Rev. Clementa Pinckney was closing his Bible study at 9:00 p.m.; nothing out of the ordinary except there was a guest present that night. Emanuel is one of Charleston’s historic churches. The church

is largely African American, the guest was Caucasian, but the church members were welcoming. The visitor, however, had no interest in friendship. He intended to kill as many people as possible. With contempt for the people who had welcomed him, Dylann Roof coldly murdered nine people in a despicable act of evil inspired by racial hatred. The horrible news spread quickly, the anguish and the hurt

were felt immediately. Nine people had been killed in a racially motivated hate crime. As a pastor in this great city, I had two overwhelming emotions: revulsion and fear. I felt sick, my heart weeping for these families. I feared for what might happen. The next day a prayer gathering was scheduled at noon at

Morris Brown AME Church. Hundreds gathered in the building, hundreds more gathered in 98 degree heat outside. Before the service, pastors gathered to prepare and I was invited to join them. These pastors and church leaders, mostly African American, had gathered to mourn together. I was an outsider to the racism

24 BAPTIST WORLD MAGAZINE

university whose mother had been killed the night before, stood among friends at a press conference. His words became the motto for the city, “love is stronger than hate.” On Friday, nine families gathered for the bond hearing. One by one, the families voiced their forgiveness for the killer. One grieving husband eloquently spoke, inviting Roof to trust Jesus Christ as his Savior out of concern for his soul. No one in Charleston has ever given a more powerful

witness of the Gospel than these nine African American families. Their words had impact around the world. Two of our church members who live in China were overwhelmed with requests from non-Christian friends asking how to have such forgiveness. Race relations in Charleston took an immediate turn.

God’s grace transformed the city. Churches all over held prayer gatherings, others suspended services to worship in a park adjacent to Emanuel on the Sunday following the massacre. First Baptist Church, along with two Anglican churches, carried a wooden cross with personal notes from all three churches and placed it at Emanuel. Thousands of people gathered in front of the church to sing, to pray, to pay respects. Daily, months later, crowds still stop to pray, people from all backgrounds. When one hate group came to cause trouble, the crowd began to sing Amazing Grace, drowning out the voices of division. The momentum of grace brought clarity to the issue of

the Confederate flag on statehouse grounds. The pain the flag represents to African Americans was finally understood in the white community, particularly the churches. The tragedy and the forgiveness started in Mother Emanuel Church, but it didn’t end there. The story of the Charleston massacre is all about the larger church, from all denominations who lived the grace of Christ before the world and transformed what could have been a race war into a new message: “Love is stronger than hate.” Marshall Blalock is pastor of First Baptist Church, Charleston, South Carolina, in the United States.