‘Mother Emanuel’ grieves lives lost in church shooting, but ‘not broken’

“Mother Emanuel” is “not broken by any means” – they’re “standing taller.”

That’s the hopeful message of a minister during the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church’s first worship service Sunday, four days after a gunman shot and killed six women and three men during a Bible study in the building.

Church members made the difficult return to their sanctuary, while law enforcement were on high alert, searching purses and not allowing backpacks in the sanctuary. Officers also were stationed throughout the church.

The worshipers were without their spiritual leader, Mother Emanuel’s senior pastor, the Rev. and Sen. Clementa Pinckney, 41, who was among those killed in the massacre. Other victims were church members or staff: Cynthia Hurd, 54; Tywanza Sanders, 26; Sharonda Singleton, 45; Myra Thompson, 59; Ethel Lance, 70; Susie Jackson, 87; the Rev. Daniel L. Simmons Sr., 74; and The Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, 49.

Shortly before noon Thursday, 21-year-old Dylann Storm Roof from the Midlands was captured by Shelby, N.C., police and later confessed to the killings, which authorities immediately declared hate crimes.

But the mood in the historic church Sunday was far from hateful.

Fans fluttered as volunteers and medics distributed a constant flow of water bottles to congregants in Emanuel’s standing-room-only sanctuary.

Churchgoers danced, clapped and sang while others consoled the grieving in pews and along the aisles.

A band with jazz piano, trumpet and drums accompanied the clad-in-white choir, whose singers swayed on their feet as they bellowed the syncopated notes of praise songs in unwavering voices.

The packed service included Gov. Nikki Haley and her family, who sat in the front row with U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-SC, Charleston Mayor Joe Riley and North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey.

Rick Santorum, a 2016 presidential candidate, also attended the service, sitting near the rear of the sanctuary.

The Rev. Norvel Goff, a presiding elder of the 7th District AME Church in South Carolina, delivered a message that touched on love, peace and justice.

“It has been tough, it’s been rough, some of us have been downright angry,” Goff said. “But through it all God has sustained us and has encouraged us. Let us not grow weary in well-doing.”

Goff said while other challenges and problems face the community, “there’s a time and place for everything, and now is the time for us to focus on the nine families.”

He was appointed to lead the historic Charleston church after Pinckney, who was married and had two children, was shot and killed.

Goff also pointed out how peace was guiding the community in its reaction to the racially motivated hate crime against the church.

“A lot of folks expected us to do something strange and to break out in a riot,” he said. “Well, they just don’t know us.”

“We believe that when we put ... our heads together working for a common good, there is nothing we cannot accomplish together in the name of Jesus,” he said, thanking state officials including Haley, Scott and Riley, “the nation’s mayor.”

When Goff praised law enforcement, the congregation took to their feet to applaud.

“But let’s don’t get it twisted,” Goff continued. “We’re going to pursue justice and we’re going to be vigilant, and we’re going to hold our elected officials and others accountable.”

“The blood of the ‘Mother Emmanuel 9’ requires us to work until not only justice in this case, but for those who are still living in the margin of life those who are less fortunate than ourselves, that we stay on the battlefield until there is no more fight to be fought. And for that we say, ‘Thank you,’ “ he said.

Goff told a few jokes to lighten the mood, and laughter reverberated through the sanctuary.

When he turned to the scripture, he playfully warned congregants to stay with him.

“I won’t be before you long, but if I see somebody trying to nod and sleep ... I promise you I will start with Genesis. And I will read very slowly.”

Outside in the blazing sun, hundreds of people stood in the street facing the church, listening to the service broadcast on loudspeakers. Some dressed for church. Some sang and prayed with congregants inside.

Bouquets of flowers piled higher and higher and visitors scrawled their condolences on poster boards lying on the ground.

Sadath Jean-Pierre, a West Ashley resident, listened to the whole service from the street. The message, he said, was a continuation of the expression of the victims’ families telling the shooter: “We love you. We forgive you.”

“That’s what it’s about – it’s about that love overcoming everything,” he said.

“It’s hard to love at a time like this. It really, really is. But that just shows you how strong people’s hearts, how strong humanity can be. They choose love.”

Reba Martin, a church member, said the diversity in church that day was typical at Emanuel where newcomers – white, black, native South Carolinians and visitors – frequent the church.

On Sunday, it was hard for her to come, but she said she had to.

“Rev. Pinckney was so tall, and the sun was shining through that stain-glassed window, and his voice, it was just mesmerizing,” she said. “So when I walked in the church, I could see them (the victims). It was really hard when I first got in there, but the message was so powerful, and the musicians were so good that it helped me.”

Events to show solidarity with the church were planned throughout the city. At 10 a.m., church bells around the Holy City rang in concert.

Later Sunday, people were expected to gather and join hands on the Arthur Ravenel Bridge, named after a former state lawmakers and Confederate flag champion.

Some at the church were thinking about a newly revived debate over the Confederate flag, which flies on the State House grounds.

After the service, state Rep. Leon Howard, D-Richland, said it’s time for African-Americans serving in the Legislature to “get serious” about pushing for the removal of the Confederate flag.

“It’s going to be a catalyst for the next debate on the flag and on more than the flag,” Howard said of the tragedy.

“Now is the time. We should deal with it before we adjourn. We can’t wait until January to deal with this.”

Lifelong churchgoer Charles Coaxum, dressed in black, said after the service that Mother Emanuel grows from its loss, pointing to the crowd of people gathered there.

“For a thing like this to happen to this great church, historical church, it’s going to be even stronger.”

This story was originally published June 21, 2015 at 6:21 PM.