{"id":53069,"date":"2021-06-11T16:16:42","date_gmt":"2021-06-11T16:16:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/campusministry\/?p=53069"},"modified":"2024-12-30T17:11:12","modified_gmt":"2024-12-30T17:11:12","slug":"a-prayer-for-the-commemoration-of-the-emanuel-nine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/campusministry\/2021\/06\/11\/a-prayer-for-the-commemoration-of-the-emanuel-nine\/","title":{"rendered":"A Prayer for the Commemoration of the Emanuel Nine"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Wednesday evening June 17, 2015, a young white man who was raised in\/associated with the Lutheran church (ELCA) sat for a hour-long Bible study at Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Charleston, South Carolina. After receiving hospitality from this group of faithful followers to whom he was a stranger and after sharing in the group\u2019s study and prayer, the white man shot and slain nine people as an act of racist violence and terror. Six years later, words fall woefully short in the face of such evil actions perpetuated by false narratives of white body supremacy wedged within the institutions of our American society, including the Lutheran church of which Augsburg University is affiliated. Sorrow and rage, heartache and grief, anguish and death: the evils of racism, white nationalism, and systemic oppression have yielded these foul fruits. White America and the predominantly white church of the ELCA (of which I am a part) are the \u201cwhat\u201d that fomented that young white\u2019s man act. We are complicit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But God. God calls us to confess, repent, and repudiate our (white-bodied peoples) role in the systems of discrimination and oppression calculatingly designed to marginalize Black, Indigenous, People of Color. God is always calling us \u2013 individually and communally \u2013 to life and companionship within the beautiful beloved community. But this can only happen by way of truth-telling. So, we commemorate the Emanuel Nine and name the truths of who we are and who God is calling us to be. We speak truth, we confess, we seek forgiveness, we lament, we listen, and we act for the sake of reconciliation and reparations\u2026we act ever-so-imperfectly in order that all may live. May we the privileged be purged of our false narratives of supremacy as we recommit ourselves to God\u2019s vision of abundant life for all humanity, and indeed, all of creation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The truth calls us to remember and honor the Emanuel Nine, so we name these saints of God here and now:<\/span><\/p>\n

Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton<\/span><\/p>\n

Cynthia Maire Graham Hurd<\/span><\/p>\n

Susie Jackson<\/span><\/p>\n

Ethel Lee Lance<\/span><\/p>\n

Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor<\/span><\/p>\n

Tywanza Kibwe Diop Sanders<\/span><\/p>\n

Rev. Daniel Lee Simmons<\/span><\/p>\n

Rev. Myra Singleton Quarles Thompson<\/span><\/p>\n

Rev. Clementa Pinckney<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

From the prophet Amos, the fifth chapter:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSeek good and not evil,<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0that you may live;<\/span>
\n<\/span>and so the\u00a0Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you,<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0just as you have said.<\/span>
\n<\/span> \u00a0Hate evil and love good,<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and establish justice in the gate\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026let justice roll down like waters,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

(Amos 5:14-15, 24)<\/span><\/p>\n

We pray:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

God of justice, God of righteousness:<\/span><\/p>\n

Hold all who grieve and weep at the atrocities committed on June 17, 2015 at Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. For racism, yet again, violated the sanctity and sanctuary of your church, and the study of your word of life was cut short by violence and death. We name the evil that besets our land and the norms of our nation and churches rooted in white supremacy and systems of racial injustice. We repent of our own complicity in these systems that marginalize Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. And we pray for your ever-flowing stream of mercy to sweep us along into a new day full of actions working to dismantle the white-bodied supremacy within and around. On this day, we honor and remember the Emanuel Nine, whose lives were cut short by a terrorist act of hatred. God of healing, continue to comfort the family and friends of the Emanuel Nine even as we trust you hold your dear saints in eternal light and love. Establish justice at the gates and justice in our hearts as we learn together to walk your way of goodness and truth. This we pray, in lamentation, amid suffering, and through the hope that is in you, Christ Jesus, the embodiment of reconciliation and love. Amen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Rev. Justin Lind-Ayres\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

University Pastor<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Wednesday evening June 17, 2015, a young white man who was raised in\/associated with the Lutheran church (ELCA) sat for a hour-long Bible study at Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Charleston, South Carolina. After receiving hospitality from this group of faithful followers to whom he was a stranger and after sharing …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":326,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[119],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prayer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/campusministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/campusministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/campusministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/campusministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/326"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/campusministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53069"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/campusministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53364,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/campusministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53069\/revisions\/53364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/campusministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/campusministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/campusministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}