Pastor Charles Jenkins
Last evening, I attended a memorial service and candlelight vigil for the Charleston Nine at St. Paul's A.M.E. Zion in neighboring Gettysburg. I was gratified and filled with hope to see that half the people who packed the church were white. All of us, regardless of color or ethnicity, were there to grieve together and offer support to the congregation of Emanuel A.M.E. in Charleston, South Carolina.
Worship service at St. Paul's is vastly different from services at Menallen Friends Meeting, where I am a member - though more in name only over the last couple of years. We Quakers sit in silence, awaiting God/the Light Within to speak to our souls. At St. Paul's, they call out loud for God to enter the House, to fill their hearts and souls with His presence. They offer praise with prayer, with songs, with their bodies. I felt at home there last night, unlike I have felt at my meeting for a very long time.
One thing I found interesting, and understandable considering the small size of St. Paul's, is that they use recorded music, to which they sing along. Joy spills out of the mouths of the congregation, their voices raised to a level that makes it seem the rafters are shaking. Which they might be, given the age of the church.
The gospel song that was playing when I arrived, that the congregation was singing with great fervor, rocked my soul last night, long after the vigil ended and I drove back home. It is my anthem for the rest of my life. One phrase, especially, is my new motto (and the title of this post).
I will not turn away this time. I can't. How about you?
9 comments:
beautiful post, Martha.
and the anthem.... yes. A resounding yes.
(o)
I can't tell you how nice it is to be back in a country where racism not only isn't an issue but has never been on the agenda. Maybe the solution is for all Americans to become Canadians.
Thanks for your wonderful words and spirit.
Really, Susan?
I guess you haven't seen or read these articles, then. You might want to check with Canadian civil rights groups to see what they have to say about racism and race-based violence in Canada, beginning with the peoples of the First Nations.
Just sayin'.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/racism-still-an-uncomfortable-truth-in-canada-duncan-mccue-1.2831066
http://anti-racistcanada.blogspot.com/2011/10/history-of-violence-1989-2011.html
http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/out-of-sight-out-of-mind-2/
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/02/12/canada-not-that-racist-video_n_6673262.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_North_America
http://rabble.ca/columnists/2014/12/do-black-lives-matter-canada
I really believe — have to believe — that the spirit of community you describe is where American culture is headed. If only there wern’t so much pain and loss along the way.
Harlequin:
I've spent too much of my life turning away when faced with the wretchedness and cruelty we humans visit upon each other. I don't have any answers for this mess, only know I need to become involved in making things better. I don't want my grandson to have to still deal with tragedies like this when he is my age and a grandparent himself.
Maybe if enough of us rally together, we can affect the changes necessary to have the society we deserve, we want for us all.
Thank you for coming by.
Thank you, Zhoen.
Michael, we have to pull together to get there and it has to start with each one of us who has had enough.
Thank you for your comments.
I concur that that's a beautiful post, well written. A lot is condensed in those few broad strokes.
Ending with an appeal. We're seeing that appeal expressed here and there, by those who hope something will be the spark that ignites something they see as being there but latent. I think it's there, but that we might have to develop the language for its expression again. Forty years of Reaganomics has instituted another one.
How about it, Beyonce? What do you say, Taylor?
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