Three Things That Do Not Surprise Me About the Tragedy at Mother Emanuel

On Wednesday, June 17, Dylan Roof murdered nine people in a prayer meeting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Three things do not surprise me about this tragedy.

1. It does not surprise me that Dylan Roof committed these killings. The weed of racism thrives in the rotting soil of sin. An invasive species with no natural enemy, it overruns the ecosystem of every human heart like leafy spurge on the western plains. It grows in the North as well as the South. Some of us are better landscapers than Dylan Roof, that's all.

2. It does not surprise me that Dylan Roof had the chance to commit these killings. The people of Emanuel welcomed the young white man who showed up at their midweek prayer meeting. He admitted to the police that he nearly gave up his plan because he received such hospitable treatment. This does not surprise me because I have received the same generous welcome at African American churches. African American Christians across all denominations forged their church community by smelting the ore of faith over the fires of slavery, Jim Crow, segregation, and bigotry. If you show up at a black church, the congregation immediately gives you full access to all of that history, all of that pain, and all of that power. I have repeatedly been awed at such acts of Christian hospitality. It is like saying, "Here is the bunker we built from the stones you threw at us. Come in and take shelter." Visit an African-American church this Sunday - this Sunday - and you will experience the same thing.

3. It does not surprise me that the families of the victims forgave Dylan Roof. He shot them because they were black. They forgave him because they are Christians. I do not say what they did was easy. I do not say I would do the same. I do not say I would criticize those people if they withheld their forgiveness or needed more time to offer it. I say that this is what our Teacher tells us to do and it should not surprise us that Christians obey Christ.

Dylan Roof wanted to start a race war. What he may have accomplished is the removal of the Confederate battle flag from every state-owned venue in the South. What the people of Mother Emanuel accomplished is to set a shining city on a high hill and call us to the Kingdom where Our Lord promises to wipe every tear from our eyes.

When I Die, Please Hold My Funeral in a Church

When I die, please hold my funeral in a church:

Not some camera obscura where the spotlight stabs the stage,

And some upside-down celebrity reflects it from his teeth,

And the people sit in darkness as the mysteries unfold,

And sip sacramental lattes and the doughnut flesh of Christ,

And they rock in movie-plush seats to an "awesome" "worship band,"

And they scroll the iPhone NIV while texting to their friends.

But a church, please hold my funeral in a church:

In a cinder block Shekinah where the pulpit's made of pine,

And the chunky stained-glass windows turn the sun to seraphim,

And a preacher in a blue suit pounds the pulpit with a fist,

And the deacons serve out Welch's and the teeth of Pharisees,

And the pews creak as folks fidget as the choir sweats through their robes,

And they thumb through King James Bibles with those little index tabs.

Yes, a church - and please invite me to attend:

Do not eighty-six me somewhere else; I won't embarrass God,

And make people face a corpse and double-dare them to believe,

And proclaim that Jesus rose and that I'm no more dead than he,

And His mighty resurrection is the only hope I had,

And that I will be forgotten if the Lord waits long enough,

But that He'll remember me all right, however long He waits.

In a church: Please hold my funeral in a church.