Yesterday was the first Sunday since the tragic shooting in Charleston, S.C., that claimed the lives of four parishioners at the historically black Emanuel AME Church. One of the nine people killed in the senseless massacre was the church’s pastor, Clementa Pinckney, but neither his conspicuous absence nor the weight of the tragedy was sufficient to keep the church from opening its doors on Sunday.
Overflow crowd outside Emanuel AME Church, listening to the music coming from inside. #CharlestonShooting pic.twitter.com/UIt2JcIyD1
— Colin Daileda (@ColinDaileda) June 21, 2015
The Blaze notes optimistically that Sunday’s service was not just a study in hope but in real diversity. The pews, which were filled to capacity, were lined with “young and old, activists and politicians, black and white.”
Attendees are many and diverse, so much so that in one pew you have conservative @RickSantorum and activist @deray. pic.twitter.com/u7P3fkgryt
— Trymaine Lee (@trymainelee) June 21, 2015
Rev. Norvel Goff, a presiding elder of the 7th District AME Church in South Carolina, stepped up to fill in as pastor and delivered an uplifting sermon, telling the congregation:
We have shown the world how we as a group of people can come together and pray.
A lot of folk expected us to do something strange and break out in a riot. Well, they just don’t know us. They just don’t know us because we are a people of faith, and we believe that when we put our forces and our heads together, working for a common good, there is nothing we cannot accomplish together in the name of Jesus.
So let’s don’t get it twisted. We’re going to pursue justice, and we’re going to be vigilant, and we are going to hold our elected officials and others accountable to do the right thing. The blood of the Mother Emanuel nine requires us to work not only for justice in this case, but for those who are still living in the margin of life, those who are less fortunate than ourselves.
Amen to that!
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