This has been a very busy day and a lot has happened. I am taking some time this evening to try to decompress and unwind, but the shooting in South Carolina is weighing heavy in my soul.
First I am a United Methodist Pastor. The shooting took place in an historic African Methodist Episcopal church. From the name you may have already guess the UMC and the AME church have a common ancestry. More than that we have a common core belief in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. My heart grieves for the church and the community where this awful crime took place. People in that area are going to struggle with feeling safe going to church. There will be those who are too afraid to attend worship because of what might happen. I don’t know what caused this young man to do this horrible thing, but I know there are going to be a lot of questions. Why did this young man do this? How could he sit in a Bible study for an hour and still make this heinous mistake? And the eventual, How could God have let this happen?
Let it be known. God loves you. God loves you where you are right now and God always will. God even loves the boy who shot the people in that Charleston church. God loves him right where he is sitting in jail the same way God loves you sitting there reading this post. God doesn’t care about the color of our skin, the shape of our bodies, or the way we have spent our lives. God gave us free will and God expects us to use it. God does not want robots. God wants God’s created people to have the love, grace and unmatched joy of being in relationship with God. That can only come from free will, and free choices. However, we do a really good job of using those choices to hurt ourselves and others. By definition that is sin. That’s what that boy this morning. That boy sinned. The boy hurt himself and he hurt others. That boy killed others and they are in God’s hands now. The boy is in the hands of the police now. What are we gonna do with our hands now? Are we going to wring our hands and ask how God could let this happen or are we gonna put our hands to work?
What can we do. We can drop to our knees and put our hands together to pray. We gather together with other people and pray. We can make it a point to gather with people who do not look like us, who do not think like us, who do not sound like us. We can hold hands together – red yellow black and white – for we are all precious in God’s sight. We can come together and pray for the people of that AME church in Charleston, SC. What else can we do. We can write letters. We can send letters of comfort to the church. We can use words that lift up and support the congregation. We can send letters to the South Carolina senate crying out for reconciliation between Whites and African Americans. We can type posts on our blogs, twitter, instagram and Facebook, and keep posting. The conversation about race and racism in this country seems to go away until something awful happens. It’s time for this dialog to include people of all races, creed, color and economic status.
Now is not the time to back away – to run and hide from public places and from God’s church. Now is the time to put our hands to work to be Christ’s hands in this world. Now is the time to seek reconciliation, peace and balance. Now is not the time to seek vengeance. Now is the time to put our hands to work rebuilding the peace one boy shattered. Now is the time to take the hands of those who are most different from us and offer that historic greeting of the Methodist Church. The peace of Christ be with you. Then in sincerity let us genuinely reply – And also with you.
By God’s Good Grace,
Richard
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