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| The Honorable Rev. Clementa Pinckney |
The voice was simply unmistakable. It had become a staple of my trips to D.C. At my first orientation at Wesley Theological Seminary, I remember hearing his voice. Clementa Pinckney had a voice you simply couldn't forget. It must have been what James Earl Jones sounded like 30-40 years ago. Clementa and I were working on our Doctorate of Ministry in Church Leadership at Wesley. After seeing all my Georgia Bulldog apparel, he struck up our first conversation because his cousin, Sanders Commings, played for the Dawgs from '09-'12. We were suite mates during one of my stays there. I looked forward to seeing him, sharing a few conversations with him and hearing his wonderful voice when I'd go up for classes. Clementa was just a beautiful man.
That's why Charleston just hits too close to home. Clementa was the Senior Pastor at Mother Emanuel AME Church, and he was a friend. A shooter marched into a prayer meeting killing nine people. it was close to home. The shooter once attended the high school where my brother teaches and where my nephew is a rising senior. It's just too close to home. South Carolina is my home state. It's just too close to home. I'm a United Methodist Pastor and Mother Emanuel was a sister Methodist Church from the African Methodist Episcopal tradition. It's too close to home. My church gathers for prayer meetings. It's too close to home.
Except for one thing. I'm white. The last few months have seen our country struggle with violence, anger and racially charged tension. This is the second of those that has hit close to home. My time at Wesley also allowed me the privilege of gaining a Baltimore City Councilwoman as a friend. I am strangely more connected to these issues than ever before. It's close to home. But I'm white.
What being white, and particularly a white Christian, means for me now is naming the reality that I don't fully understand the hurt, anger, fear and frustration of our African-American brothers and sisters. To say that I understand how ALL OF THIS feels is disingenuous and false. To say that race isn't an issue in all of this is insensitive and wrong.
But I do ache for our land, and I hope you do, too. So what I want to say is that I weep for our broken world. I mourn for those who were lost and their families that remain. I stand with my African-American brothers and sisters. I work for justice. I pray for those who think hate and violence are the answer. I long for healing in our hearts. I hope for grace and forgiveness to become a reality in this world.
Let those of us who are white not pretend that there aren't real issues involving race. Let those of us that are Christian not offer trite answers to this ugliness. Let those of us who are African-American believe that there are many of us from all races that stand with you and want to see justice in our world. Let the people of God BE THE CHURCH in and for this broken world. And most of all, let the Lord of love heal our land.
Come, Lord Jesus.
