Taylor: The Holy City leads SC to reconciliation

Emanuel is Hebrew for “God With Us.” As children of God, we ask: If Emanuel means God with us, was God with us on June 17 in a house of worship at a Bible study in Charleston? If the nine lives that were taken that day help bridge racial reconciliation, how can we argue God was absent?

Various ethnic groups settled in Charleston in 1670, bringing numerous Protestant denominations, Roman Catholicism and Judaism. The nickname “Holy City” stems from long-standing religious tolerance and the many historic churches and synagogues that still stand today, including the once-burned but resurrected Emanuel A.M.E. Church.

In these past two and a half weeks, the Holy City has lived up to its moniker as home to a people of faith, including the families of the fallen, who stepped from quiet shadows to speak in a unified voice rooted in spiritual love, not hate. The acts of a young gunman in a church are unfathomable, incomprehensible, senseless, sensitizing and seemingly an indescribable waste. How does one turn waste into something valuable? We are called upon to throw away the rotten, bitter parts and refurbish that which can be redeemed.

How? We bond with prayer, just as the Emanuel nine did. God with us. Prayerfully, we extend our desire to communicate, stretching the fabric of relationship. We examine our common threads, our historical differences and the fact that we all bleed. The DNA makeup affecting our race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disabilities and other differences should not define our humanity.

Charleston has demonstrated phenomenal spiritual redemption and grace in the presence of evil. As a result, the Confederate flag will be removed from the State House grounds, and that is justice; the young gunman will be dealt with in a court of law, and that is justice; in faith we will examine how our houses of worship may be made less segregated, and that, too, is justice.

My father thought the Ravenel Bridge spanning the Charleston Harbor was a visionary architectural vessel between old and new, history and future, deterioration and restoration. The Holy City will help define how our dialogue moves from tragedy to recovery. That is our collective challenge: We must not let communication languish in mediocrity, but rather we must be propelled, encouraged and sustained in the language of love, tolerance and humanity. Our collective city of light. God with us.

West Columbia

This story was originally published July 4, 2015 at 7:36 PM.