Reopening church’s doors after shooting ‘sends message’

Associated Press

CHARLESTON, S.C.

Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church opened its tall, wooden doors to the world Sunday, embracing strangers who walked in from the street or tuned in from home for the first worship service since a white gunman was accused of killing nine black church members.

It was that same hospitality that allowed the suspected gunman to be welcomed into a Bible study for about an hour before he purportedly stood up, made racially offensive remarks and opened fire in the church known as “Mother Emanuel” because it is one of the oldest black congregations in the South.

“I was so pleased when authorities told us you can go back into ‘Mother Emanuel’ to worship,” said the Rev. Norvel Goff, a presiding elder of the 7th District AME Church in South Carolina, before adding a note of defiance to a service sprinkled with themes of love, recovery and healing.

“Some folks might need some more time in order to walk in. But for those of us who are here this morning ... because the doors of Mother Emanuel are open on this Sunday, it sends a message to every demon in hell and on earth.”

Despite the heaviness in the air, many stood – some holding small children – to shout their praises or raise their hands toward the church’s vaulted ceiling. For added security, police officers stood watch over worshippers.

Goff was appointed to lead the historic Charleston church after Emanuel’s senior pastor, the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, was fatally shot during the massacre.

Rev. Pinckney also was a state senator and married father of two children.

The church’s Wednesday night Bible study is expected to continue as normal next week, said Emanuel member Harold Washington, 75. “We didn’t change a thing,” he said.