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Boardman UMC sending cards of love and sympathy to Emanuel AME
By LINDA M. LINONIS
BOARDMAN
Members of Boardman United Methodist Church reached out more than 720 miles or so to Charleston, S.C., and sent cards of love, sympathy and encouragement to the congregation of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Nine people, including the pastor, were fatally shot as they participated in a Bible study June 17.
The Rev. Pamela Buzalka, who is starting her third year at the Boardman church, suggested the idea. She said a previous church where she served sent cards and an offering to a Methodist church in Newtown, Conn., after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting Dec. 14, 2012, when 20 children and six adult staff members were shot to death. Some of the families of victims attended the church that received the cards.
The card idea was well- received by the congregation; members wrote personal messages in cards. The cards bear the note, “The faith community of Boardman United Methodist Church stands with you at this time of deep sorrow.”
The card also includes an adaptation of lyrics of “Stand By Me” by the Rev. Charles Albert Tindley, who wrote the song in a Gospel tradition, and a passage from Revelation 21:1-4.
“We wanted to send a message to the church that we are standing by them as fellow Christians,” Pastor Buzalka said. “Standing together is important. The messages from person to person are powerful.”
Angela Russo, a church member and wife of Pastor Shane Russo, student pastor, said, “As Christians, we want to be welcoming. It’s upsetting to think people are targeted because of their race or sexual orientation.”
Russo said the attack on the church members at the Bible study evoked the memory of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York City. “Christianity is under attack,” she said.
The pastor added the shooting in South Carolina “awakens us to the cost of discipleship.”
The cards were distributed to church members in the bulletin during services of June 20-21 and this past weekend. The church has a courtyard service at 4:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sunday worship at 10 a.m. “There is always a loving thing we can do in response to something like this,” Pastor Buzalka said.
“We feel [sending the cards] is an action of love,” the pastor said. “We wanted Emanuel members to know the Methodists in Youngstown are sending their love.”
The pastor noted the membership can’t “send the usual Methodist casserole,” so the cards, 150 at last count, and a donation of about $620 are on their way to South Carolina.
The pastor and church members admitted the church shooting has prompted various conversations.
“The biggest thing for me is thinking about not being judgmental and being accepting,” Russo said. “For example, we encourage our son, Carmen, to play with all children at the playground.” The Russos are parents of the 21/2-year-old and Emmett, 3 months. “We want to teach them about diversity and acceptance.”
But, the young mother said the shooting at Emanuel AME prompted a recollection for her.
She said she left the sanctuary at a previous church during worship to go the restroom and came upon a stranger walking in a hallway. “It makes you think about how vulnerable you might be in the face of trying to be accepting,” she said.