CHARLESTON, S.C. — Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church opened its tall, wooden doors to the world Sunday, embracing strangers who walked in from the street or tuned in from home for the first worship service since a white gunman was accused of killing nine black church members.
It was that same hospitality that allowed the suspected gunman to be welcomed into a Bible study for about an hour Wednesday before he allegedly stood up, made racially offensive remarks and opened fire in the church known as Mother Emanuel because it is one of the oldest black congregations in the South.
“I was so pleased when authorities told us you can go back into Mother Emanuel to worship,” said the Rev. Norvel Goff, a presiding elder of the 7th District AME Church in South Carolina, before adding a note of defiance to a service sprinkled with themes of love, recovery and healing.
“Some folks might need some more time in order to walk in. But for those of us who are here this morning … because the doors of Mother Emanuel are open on this Sunday, it sends a message to every demon in hell and on earth.”
The church’s air conditioning did little to fight the heat of extra bodies in the sanctuary. There was fervent singing and shouting, so much so that many congregants waved small fans in front of their faces.
Despite the heaviness in the air, many stood – some holding small children – to shout their praises or raise their hands toward the church’s vaulted ceiling. For added security, police officers stood watch over worshippers.
Goff was appointed to lead the historic Charleston church after Emanuel’s senior pastor, the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, was killed in the massacre.
A black sheet was draped over Pinckney’s usual chair, which sat empty. At least one parishioner kneeled in front of it and prayed.
Pinckney was also a state senator and married father of two children. Goff acknowledged Father’s Day and said: “The only way evil can triumph is for good folks to sit down and do nothing.”
As Emanuel’s congregation belted out a gospel hymn, church bells rang throughout the “Holy City” – nicknamed because of the numerous churches here.
Around the country, pastors asked people to pray for Charleston.
Later Sunday, thousands of people gathered on the Arthur Ravenel Bridge in Charleston to join hands in solidarity.
The bridge is named after a former state lawmaker and vocal Confederate flag supporter.
The slayings have renewed calls for the flag to be removed from the South Carolina Statehouse grounds, in part because photographs of the alleged gunman in a purported manifesto showed him holding Confederate flags.
Less than 2 miles from the church, someone vandalized a Confederate monument, spray- painting “Black Lives Matter” on the statue. City workers used a tarp to cover the graffiti, police said. Photos on local news websites from before the tarp was put up show the graffiti in red paint, along with the message “This is the problem. #RACIST.”
As a further sign of resilience, the church’s Wednesday night Bible study is expected to continue as normal, said Emanuel member Harold Washington, 75. “We didn’t change a thing,” he said.
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