Sermon for the Commemoration of the Emanuel Nine
Say Their Names
By The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer -
“Say. Their. Names.” You have heard it everywhere these last weeks. “Say his name” – “George Floyd.” Say their names – “George Floyd, Brionna Taylor, Ahmand Arbery” and so, so many more. Saying the names of those unarmed black people who have been killed by police has become part of the rallying cry for change in demonstrations around the USA and even around the world.
Say their names.
This coming week, Wednesday, June 17, is the fifth anniversary of the mass killing of black worshipers known now as the Emanuel Nine. Nine members of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, a congregation often called Mother Emanuel, nine members of Mother Emanuel Church were gathered for evening Bible study and prayer when a young white male stranger asked to join them. He was welcomed into their study group. This self-professed white supremacist then took out previously hidden weapons and killed them all.
Say their names.
- The Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton
- Cynthia Marie Graham Hurd
- Susie Jackson
- Ethel Lee Lance
- The Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor
- Tywansa Diop Sanders
- The Rev. Daniel Lee Simmons
- The Rev. Myra Singleton Quarles Thompson
- The Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney, pastor of Emanuel and a South Carolina State Senator
It is important to say their names.
These nine people were not strangers to each other, of course, they were friends and fellow parishioners. Five were pastors, four lay leaders in their congregation.
These nine people were not strangers to us either. They were fellow human beings, children of God, fellow Christians.
Pastors Pinckney and Simmons were graduates of our Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s Southern Seminary in Columbia, South Carolina, a graduate school of our Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s Lenoir Rhyne University in Hickory, North Carolina. Brother pastors in Christ.
Of course, there is one more name. That young white supremacist killer. He also is one of us. This young man was confirmed in one of our Evangelical Lutheran Church in America congregations. He once stood before the altar in one of our congregations and promised, as all confirmands do, to renounce the devil and to “strive for justice and peace in all the earth.”
I do not want to say his name, but it must be said, Dylan Roof. His name must be said. And, I really do not want to say the name of George Floyd’s killer, but his name must also be said, the now former police officer who killed George Floyd – Derek Chauvin.
Say their names. Repent racism and the murder of unarmed black people by white police officers and white supremacists.
Of course, it is easy to condemn behavior in and by others. The church, our church, has so much more to do to end racism among us. The problem goes far beyond violence against African American people by some white police officers and other white supremacists. It is OUR problem, each and every one of us and one we must face as white people. I spoke of this three weeks ago and will certainly be addressing it with you again.
And I know these problems sometimes seem overwhelming. In those times I find the words of St. Paul in today’s second lesson helpful, “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” There is still, there is always, hope for us all. And, work for us to do to end the racism in each of us.
There continues to be an argument among some white people, although fortunately fewer and fewer each day following George Floyd’s death, there is still an argument among some white people about using the phrase, “Black lives matter.” I know the argument; I have even heard it said by a few in our Mt. Olive community in the past. “All lives matter,” they say, not just black lives.
Well, of course, all lives matter. I liked the sign I saw a young black girl holding this week. Her sign said something like this:
- We said black lives matter
- We never said only black lives matter
- We know that all lives matter
- We just need your help for black lives are in danger
- Black lives matter
If you do not believe that black lives are in danger after seeing George Floyd die before your eyes at the knee of a white police officer or Ahmand Arbery gunned down by a white former police officer, or Brionna Taylor, resting in her own bed after a long day of providing emergency medical care for people like you and me, Brionna Taylor murdered in her bed by police officers not in uniform who did not identify themselves as they entered her home. Well, if that does not convince you to believe that black lives matter and we must call for a major change in how police treat black people across this nation, well then there is nothing I can say this morning that will change your mind or heart.
Five years ago next week the Emanuel Nine were memorialized in a worship service at Mother Emanuel Church. President Obama was there and sang “Amazing Grace.” Our ELCA Presiding Bishop, the Rev. Elizabeth Eaton, was also there, right behind our President, honored to be one of few women and white people on the dais.
The Emanuel Nine were nine gifted, loving and faithful people who spent their lives striving for excellence, connection and the presence of God, and spent their last moments on this earth studying God’s word. They leave a legacy of grace, resistance, family and faith.
Remember the Emanuel Nine.
Gracious God, in remembering their lives and witness, we are called to a wider understanding of the Holy Spirit’s work in this world.
- They were preachers – open us to receive the good news of Jesus Christ.
- They were students – kindle in us a desire to learn and grow in your ways.
- They were teachers – instill in us a desire to learn and grow in your ways.
- They were coaches – accompany us as we strive to run the race set before us.
- They were mentors – inspire us through the wise counsel offered by others.
- They were leaders – embolden us to seek out the best in others.
- They were musicians – attune us to the sounds of your creation.
- They were poets – reveal your truth in language we have yet to discover.
- They were barbers – shape us as attentive care givers to those around us.
- They were bus drivers – carry us as companions in life’s unexpected journeys.
- They were veterans – remember those who risk harm for the sake of others.
- They were librarians – write on our hearts and minds the wisdom of the generations.
- They were advocates – call us to speak and act on behalf of those who are silenced.
- They were public servants – show us how to love our neighbors as ourselves.
- They were legislators – inscribe your laws of love and justice in our hearts.
In lives of faithful devotion, your servants Clementa, Cynthia, Daniel, DePayne, Ethel, Myra, Sharonda, Susie and Tywanza lived by your promises, sharing their gifts with those in their families and communities. May we not forget their lives, taken too soon. In the years to come, let us share their names and their witness, so that the world comes to know of your spirit at work in and through them.
We ask this in the name of Jesus.
Remember their names. Their lives mattered. Black lives matter.
In the hymn, Lift Every Voice and Sing, also known as the Black National Anthem, we sing:
“Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod, felt in the days when hope unborn had died; yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet come to the place for which our parents sighed?
“We have come over a way that with tears has been watered; we have come, treading the paths through the blood of the slaughtered, out from the gloomy past, till we can stand at last where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.”
Till we can stand together at last.
Amen.
The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer
Senior Pastor - Mt. Olive Lutheran Church
Santa Monica, California
Sermon for:
June 14, 2020
