By The Rev. Greg Smith, Associate Rector and I’on Campus Pastor, Chaplain to The Citadel, Charleston

At each of the four funerals I was able to attend I heard the familiar words from Psalm 37 as the crying family came in: “I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.”
    In what sense could these words possibly be true?
    All of this tragedy, senseless violence, crazy summer heat... How could this Scripture (of all) be applied at a funeral? Hadn’t the righteous been forsaken?
    Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, (John 11:25)
    And there was the answer.

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Retired Emanuel AME Pastor Preaches at St. Michael’s, Charleston

By Peg Eastman, St. Michael’s Church, Charleston

On Sunday, August 2, 2015, over 360 people packed St. Michael’s Church, Charleston, to hear the Rev. Dr. John Gillison give the 10:30 a.m. service sermon, “The Perfect Model for All Times.” Gillison had served as Senior Pastor of Mother Emanuel for eight years and was now retired after 56 years of active ministry.
    Opening with prayer, the Rev. Gillison began with Philippians 2:5, “Let this mind be in you that is also in Christ Jesus.” He stressed that this mindset is the perfect model for today’s world and for all time.

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By The Rev. Tim Surratt, Christ the King, Grace Waccamaw, Pawleys Island, SC
 
When Jesus’ name is proclaimed in any circumstance (see Psalm 107) – you can’t contain it and you can’t refute it. “Has the Lord redeemed you? Then speak out!”
     The media had no choice but to show the incredible display of grace, forgiveness, and even the hope-through-their-pain that the perpetrator would know Jesus, freely expressed by the families of the victims and the members of Emanuel AME. Oh, that we could all attain such depth of love for Jesus and others, and let us let Him change us into such people! And how irresistible the Church becomes when His name is proclaimed louder than the name of the evil ones or the politicians or the issues or even, in some ways, the victims. And that’s what the members of that Church did!  

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The Rev. Bill Christian, Executive Director of Star Gospel Mission Remarks on Collegiality Among Races
By Joy Hunter, Director of Communications, Diocese of South Carolina

The Rev. Bill Christian, Executive Director of the Star Gospel Mission on Charleston’s eastside, has a unique perspective on the effect the murders of the Emanuel Nine had on the community. The Star Gospel Mission, Charleston’s oldest not-for-profit Christian welfare organization, provides transitional housing for formerly homeless men.
    “What I’ve experienced, very simply, is that the black men and white men here are far more interactive than I’ve ever seen them in all the years I’ve been here,” said Christian, who’s been at the mission for 15 years. “They’re communicating frequently, openly, and regularly – sitting out on the porch together, talking, dialoguing. There’s a collegiality that didn’t exist before. Something has changed. I sense it at a visceral level.”

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