In Awe of the Christian Saints of Charleston

Nine died during a Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, Wednesday night. Nine died in a place of peace and prayer. Nine died because they were African-American.

Today, family members and representatives of these nine victims–pastors and old women and younger people–spoke to the murderer at his court appearance. They spoke with intentional and defining words of honesty, grief, anger, love, forgiveness, and an appeal that he repent.

“I forgive you. You took something really precious away from me. I will never talk to her ever again. I will never be able to hold her again. But I forgive you and have mercy on your soul. It hurts me, it hurts a lot of people but God forgive you and I forgive you.”–daughter of Ethel Lance

“I forgive you, my family forgives you. We would like you to take this opportunity to repent. Repent. Confess. Give your life to the one who matters the most, Christ, so he can change your ways no matter what happens to you and you’ll be OK. Do that and you’ll be better off than you are right now.”–Anthony Thompson, representing family of Myra Thompson

(Read all of the statements here.)

In the midst of such great evil, these remarkable human beings dared to consider the dangerous state of this young man’s soul.

I am in awe.

Can we on the sidelines get our heads around the evil act of violence committed by this white supremacist shooter? Can even those of us least affected by this act of violence see behind the monstrous act to a person that God loves? But those most wounded by this hate crime have filled me awe. They have shown me what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Can I manage to follow their example in the far-lesser slights and hurts I experience from others? Can I be a grace-giver, a person in whom hate does not win? Can I demonstrate the power of love to conquer hate?

These Christians are my heroes.  They know that the justice system will rightly mete out a penalty for the murderer of their families (that is its job), but they also know that “an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.” They know that at the end of the day, somebody has to let go of hate. Somebody has to break the chain of violence. You want a race war, young man? We won’t give it to you. We will love and forgive you instead.

They are daring to do this brave thing. They are daring to demonstrate with great courage the muscular power of love and the way it gives dignity back to victims. The way it demonstrates the smallness of hate and the bigness of love.

Forgiveness is not a one-time act, but a journey. Certainly, these saints will face ups and downs in the days ahead. They will experience all of the stages of grief. I hope and pray they feel safe to be messy and honest and angry and real about those things. And I hope and pray they will not feel pressured to say the “right Christian thing” every moment.

But I also know that the Gospel is a crazy powerful thing. It’s something that gets deep down into a Christian’s bones. It gives the Christian the courage to stare down evil and know they will triumph over it. It’s filled with hope. It’s the promise of the resurrection. It enables Christians to look at even the gravest offender and see a human being, broken and smeared over with evil though he be.

Not all of us walk through such a deep, dark valley of the shadow of death. Thank you, dear brothers and sisters, for demonstrating what the Gospel is about. Thank you for following the example of our Lord who hung dying and said, “Father, forgive them.” Thank you for not just going to Bible study but living the Bible. Thank you for your audacious love. I am in awe of you. May you have strength and courage and peace and healing in the days ahead.

And when you have moments that aren’t pretty, moments that are angry and broken and raw, please know I still stand in deep respect of you. And I will be praying for you.

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