Calm in the Midst of the Storm by The Rev. Donald L. Hamer
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Trinity Episcopal Church, Hartford
Pentecost 4 – June 21, 2015
Mark 4: 35-41
“Calm in the Midst of the Storm”
At the beginning of this week, I had planned to have a kind of “dialogue homily” with you about the beginning of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church. This is an event that only happens once every three years and – given the structure of the church – is really where the important decisions are made within the church structure. Among the many items on the agenda for this year is the election of a new Presiding Bishop for the Episcopal Church, and one of the four nominated candidates is our own Ian Douglas from Connecticut. Included in today’s service is a special litany asking God’s blessing on the proceedings at Convention.
But that was Monday. Before we heard the news of Wednesday evening. The news that the historic African American Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, South Carolina had been the site of 9 murders – all of the victims people of color, including the pastor of the church. The news that the murders were committed by a young white supremacist by the name of Dylann Storm Roof. The news that on his Facebook page, Roof is wearing a jacket bearing the flags of Southern Rhodesia and Apartheid-era South Africa. The news that as he began shooting, he accused his victims of “raping our women and taking over our country” as then proceeded to shoot each one of them multiple times.
The victims were real people, not nameless numbers on a stat sheet. They had real lives, families, jobs, colleagues—peoples whose lives they touched and were a part of in very real ways.
Clementa Pinckney, 41
Pinckney was the church's pastor and a state senator representing the 45th District. A married father of two, Pinckney was elected to the state House at age 23, making him the youngest House member at the time.
Tywanza Sanders, 26
Sanders graduated from Allen University in Columbia in 2014 with a degree in business administration,
Cynthia Hurd, 54
Hurd was a branch manager at the Charleston County Public Library.
Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, 45
Coleman-Singleton was a high school track coach. He has a son who is a sophomore at Charleston Southern University. She was also a pastor in the church.
Myra Thompson, 59
The wife of The Rev. Anthony Thompson, Vicar of Holy Trinity Reformed Episcopal Church in Charleston.
Ethel Lee Lance, 70
A grandmother who was described as “the heart of her family” who had worked at the church for 30 years.
Rev. Daniel Simmons, 74
Simmons was a ministerial staff member. He was transported to a hospital after the shooting and later died
Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, 49
Middleton-Doctor was an enrollment counselor at the Charleston campus of Southern Wesleyan University and a mother of four.
Susie Jackson, 87
Jackson was Ethel Lee Lance's cousin and a longtime church member.
Aside from the sheer horror and viciousness of this crime, there are a number of aspects of this attack that I have been pondering throughout the week. The first is the nature of this event. It was a hate crime, perpetrated and pre-meditated by a Caucasian person who has a professed hatred for people of color. There are not a lot of dots to connect here, and the dots we have all say it was a hate crime committed by a white supremacist. We all wish it were something else – but saying it or wondering about it doesn’t make it so. Failing to call it what is so clearly is diverts attention from the continuing sin of racism in our nation and dishonors the memory of those who died there.
The third is the place where the shootings took place. First of all, it was in a church. But it wasn’t just any church. Emanuel is the oldest African Methodist Episcopal church in the South. In 1822, one of its founders, Denmark Vesey, organized a major slave uprising in Charleston, but authorities quashed the rebellion before it could happen. It formed an important part of the Civil Rights movement of the 20th Century. Now some commentators – almost all of them NOT people of color – are making the claim that this incident is just one more example of a wholesale cultural attack on Christianity claimed to be going on in this country. As an active person of the Christian faith my entire life and a pastor for the past 15 years, I just don’t understand that claim at all. Pardon any cynicism I may have, but it strikes me that all of the folks taking this position are the same folks who define their Christianity in terms of who is NOT called to the table – folks about whom they have the right to decide what they can and cannot do, who they can and cannot be. Let’s be clear: The victims were not killed because they were Christians – they were killed because they were black, and the murderer said so. What many people don’t know is on that same evening, St. Matthew’s Missionary Baptist Church, another Black congregation, was sprayed with gunfire while the choir was practicing inside. This is not an isolated event.
But to me there is another aspect of the killings taking place in a house of worship that I find more troublesome. And that is, this murderer gained access to the church in the first place by taking advantage of one of the fundamental aspects of any healthy and vibrant community, and that is hospitality. The murderer actually pretended to be interested in the Bible Study that was going on. And I suppose in this sense you could say they may have been killed because they were Christian. Even though he was White and the participants in the Bible Study – all people of color -- might have found this odd, they welcomed him in – someone different from themselves -- among them, even complemented him on being there. Welcoming the stranger – isn’t that exactly what Jesus told us to do? Spreading the Word among those who are thirsting for knowledge and faith – isn’t that the Great Commission that Jesus gave us? We do that exact same thing every single week, and virtually every single day here at Trinity, and I dare say so does every other church on Asylum Hill and indeed in the City. Many suburban churches would do the same.
For those of us who are pastors, there is one more sobering aspect to the Charleston murders: This is the second time in several weeks that a pastor has been shot while serving the church. The pastor at Church of the Nazarene, over on Capitol Avenue, was shot several weeks ago as he was placing small American flags on the church grounds prior to Sunday worship on Memorial Day weekend.
You may be wondering – some of you have already asked me – What are we going to do in the aftermath of the Charleston murders? It is something I have given considerable thought to. A number of us pastors talked about it as we gathered on Friday evening for a prayer vigil at Metropolitan A.M.E. Zion church up on Main Street. And to a person, we all agreed: We will – we must – keep on doing what Jesus asks us to do: To follow Jesus and keep on welcoming the stranger in his holy name. Certainly we have been and will continue to be mindful of common sense security measures – especially with Trinity Academy and The Choir School of Hartford serving children in our facilities.
But do we really want to turn God’s house into a fortress? When you think about it, what could have been done to prevent these shootings? Do we want Vinnie (the security guard) to start patting everyone down as they enter the building? Should we make everyone pass through a metal detector on their way in? There really aren’t many ways to stop a mad man. Some one or a group of people could just as easily take out the guard or guards we would post at the entrances before coming in after the rest of us.
No, I think Jesus models the answer for us in this morning’s Gospel. Just like the disciples in the story, we too are now frightened, confused, and not sure where to turn. It would be so easy to circle the wagons, look to our own resources for protection, and take care of ourselves. But that’s not what Jesus asks us to do. To the fearful disciples, he says, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?
At times like these, we must remember that many times the opposite of Faith is not Doubt – it is Fear. Fear blinds us to the possibilities – the opportunities -- that God sets before us. I mentioned to you last week that a group of us pastors in the city are planning a series of community walks for peace in our city and for the protection of our children. We have asked our congregations to stop at 1 p.m. each day to pray for our city and the protection of our children. Those of us gathered at Metropolitan A.M.E. on Friday evening recommitted ourselves to working together in unity across racial, ethnic and any boundary defined by people being “other” than ourselves.
You know, kind of a funny thing happened on Friday evening. As the prayer service was beginning, my friend, Pastor Terry Jones who is the Senior Pastor at Metropolitan, turned to me and whispered, “Why don’t you go ahead and lead us in the closing prayer and the blessing – you’ll provide the diversity we need.” He identified one of the sad realities about religion in 21st century America: It is still one of the most racially divided institutions we have.
And my friends, as you look around this house of worship, this is an area where we can indeed be leaders in this community. Do we always get it perfect? Of course not. But Jesus doesn’t call us to be perfect. He calls us to be faithful and to follow where he leads. And in times and circumstances like those we have experienced this week, it is more important than ever that we remain faithful to be, and to continue to become, the disciples and the apostles that Jesus desires for us to become. To join with our brothers and sisters across the City and throughout the region, following Jesus direction to welcome the stranger, and striving to fulfill Jesus’ last prayer to his heavenly Father, that we all may be one.
And now, in response to the request of the Episcopal Church in South Carolina, I ask you to join me in praying the Prayer attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, found on page 833 of the Book of Common Prayer. Please stand as you are able:
Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is
hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where
there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where
there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where
there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to
be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is
in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we
are born to eternal life. Amen.