Prayer Flags from the Berea Vigil were hand carried to Emanuel AME in Charleston and hang there this Sunday to welcome worshipers. About 200 people gathered on the Union Church front lawn to express our prayers and grief at the terrorist murders at the church known as Mother Emanuel, the founding African Methodist Episcopal congregation. Cards and a letter sent on behalf of all those who gathered here were gratefully received by the presiding elder of the church who had just finished the funeral of Pastor Pinckney. Church members lovingly hung the flags outside of the church where they bear witness not to death, but to resilience and strength. For every card and for every flag they send their thanks in this difficult time. Thanks to the Rev. Steve Rhodes for being our emissary in South Carolina.
Here is the text of the letter sent with our cards and prayers:
June 21, 2015
To The Congregation of Emanuel AME, Charleston, SC
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Greetings and peace, deep peace, to you in the name of the one who has broken the bonds of death, Christ Jesus.
The people of Berea, Kentucky, have made prayers for you and your families in this terrible time. No flags will substitute for the loss of ones held dear, or erase the evil that has violated the sanctuary of your hearts, but please accept these 76 prayers as the flutterings of our hearts with yours. They were made at a vigil held June 21 on the front lawn of historic Union Church in Berea, the first abolitionist, bi-racial church in the south and open to all since its founding in 1853. Pledged to end slavery even before the civil war, this church has borne a protest against injustice and held aloft the candle of hope for many thousands of souls. Mother Emanuel embodies this work in your history and in the present moment: holding aloft the lamp of God’s word in the darkness of a broken world. For your losses, we weep. For your strength, we make prayers. For your witness, we give thanks to God.
Over 100 people of every church, class, and race gathered to give tribute to your pastors and the others slain. We have also pledged ourselves to do more than light candles. We have pledged to work together as a community to stare down violence in the name of love, and to engage faithfully and deeply in work to end racial divides, resist hate groups and crimes, and to learn together how to walk more closely with Christ in the complex pains that plague God’s people. We hope that will be a living memorial to Rev. Pinckney and the others. It will not bring them back, but they will not have died in vain if we are able to change the world. With God’s help, we will.
“In all these things we are more than conquerors” wrote Paul. I know it is certainly true for family of faith that is Emanuel. May you be ever in God’s hand and heart for peace and power.
In Sorrow and Hope,
Rev. Kent H. Gilbert
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