Charleston a year later
A young white man walked into a Bible study at Campbell Chapel, in the coastal town of Bluffton, S.C., 100 miles away and a few weeks after Dylann Roof on June 17 of last year killed nine Bible study members at Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, S.C.
The young man in Campbell Chapel didn’t seem to understand the nervousness in the room, said Jon Black, pastor, who had been mentored by Clementa Pickney, a pastor and one of the slain Emanuel nine, as they’ve come to be known. Black knew he couldn’t ask the young man to leave. In the wake of the massacre, African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church leaders had asked its pastors to reiterate: “Our doors are open.”
“So how do you do that on Sunday morning and close them on Wednesday night?” Black asked.
Much has changed in a year. The Confederate flag has come down from the South Carolina State House grounds. White families have joined Emanuel AME. The church was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. And African American churches have ratcheted up security—installing cameras and, in some cases, posting armed ushers. Officers sometimes sit in on Bible study, and law enforcement ran a background check on Campbell Chapel’s unfamiliar visitor, who still occasionally attends Bible study. And its church doors remain open.
“For many people who really did not understand that a deeply entrenched and vicious form of racism still existed in America, they now clearly had the evidence,” said College of Charleston history professor Bernard Powers, who co-authored a book on Charleston and the massacre.
A year later, the faithful of Charleston still gather and hope. Charleston, after all, with its low skyline outlined by church spires, is known as the “Holy City.”
10 JULY 2016
Bless these bikes At its May Blessing of the Bikes, Grace Lutheran Church, Davenport, Iowa, prayed over the wheels of young, old and even furry community members. Mister T, a long-haired dachshund with a herniated disk, even had his wheeled cart blessed. “Our relationship with God flows into every aspect of our lives, including, and perhaps especially, into our recreation,” said John Grebner, Grace’s pastor. “Recreation can be a part of the feeding of our souls.”
Renewed relations Robert Rimbo, bishop of the Metropolitan New York Synod (left), Abednego Keshomshahara, bishop of the Northwest Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania; Elmereck Kigembe, general secretary of the diocese; and Perucy Butiku, assistant to the bishop for global and multicultural mission, sign a companionship covenant document at the synod assembly. This action renews an 18-year companion relationship. To read more about this year’s synod assemblies, see page 38.
Children at the ‘Pray-Ground’ How do we make it abundantly clear that children are welcome in worship? This is the question Andrea Roske-Metcalfe, a pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, Apple Valley, Minn., posed when the idea for a “Pray-Ground” was born. The designated play area in front of Grace’s sanctuary offers children’s furniture, toys and space for children to play and observe during worship. The Pray-Ground celebrated its one-year anniversary in May.
Photo: Bob Williams
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