The church will endure
01/07/15 05:31
There is another round of suspicious fires in African American churches in the south. Last night’s fire at the Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church in Greeleyville, just north of Charleston, South Carolina, got my attention. While the cause of the blaze remains under investigation, it certainly is suspicious. It was just 20 years ago that the congregation’s previous building was burned to the ground. That time it was arson. Two men were arrested and convicted of that crime. Both were members of the KKK at the time. When the church was rebuilt in 1996, President Bill Clinton spoke at the dedication of the new building (the one that burned last night). He presented the church with a plaque that read, “We must come together as one America to rebuild our churches, restore hope, and show the forces of hatred they cannot win.”
20 years ago there were more than 670 suspicious fires at churches. The federal government formed a National Church Arson Task Force to investigate the fires and prosecute the arsonists.
Now it seems as if the senseless violence has started again. In the two weeks since the brutal murder attacks at Emmanuel AME in Charleston, at least six African-American churches have been set ablaze. Three of those fires have been determined to be arson.
Since the early 19th century, church arson has been one of the weapons used by racists in their war to try to stop civil rights. After the passage of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Acts in the 20th Century, church arson spiked. Racists who couldn’t prevail in the civil arena turned to crime as a way to express their opinion.
In the days of slavery, the formation of a black church was considered to be an act of rebellion. The gospel was inherently opposed to the institution of slavery and offered hope to the slaves through the preaching that all people were equal before God and that justice would prevail.
Charleston’s Emmanuel AME Church, the scene of the shootings two weeks ago, was itself razed by city authorities in the 1820’s after a purported slave plot. The building was not rebuilt until reconstruction.
There is an important reality that the arsonists and proponents of hate can’t seem to understand: a church is more than a building. You can burn a church building to the ground, but that doesn’t stop the gathering of people for worship, prayer, praise and listening to God’s call. When states adopted draconian laws intended to shut down African-American churches, the churches simply went underground. Black congregations have remained an important spiritual force in the history of this country even when the buildings are burned and the institutions are banned.
The church remains at the core of the life of African Americans. And its gospel of love is simply stronger than the words of hate fomented by racists. Its gospel of love is simply stronger than the fires that destroy buildings. Its gospel of love is simply stronger than the bullets fired in hatred and anger.
Love never dies. You can read about it in the Bible. And these churches aren’t afraid to proclaim the words of the Bible.
In the course of teaching the Bible to their members African American congregations were centers of literacy training. People learned to read in churches. Between 1870 and 1900 literacy among African American s leapt from 5 percent to 70 percent. The center of the teaching was the church. The commitment to education wasn’t just a southern phenomenon. W.E.B. DuBois went to college with funds raised by First Congregational Church in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Our forebears in the church have always advocated education as a vehicle for promoting and extending the reach of the gospel.
It is no mistake that so many of the great leaders of the civil rights movement were ministers. It is no mistake that churches have been the centers of organization advocating for the rights of all human beings.
Being centers of organization also makes churches targets for those who seek to oppose the progress and hope they inspire.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, jr. in his speech, “It’s a Dark Day In Our Nation,” quoted Theodore Parker: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”
Those who light fires in an attempt to stem progress toward justice will not succeed. They cannot halt the flow of history. They do not have the power to control “the arc of the moral universe.” It may take a long time, but justice will prevail.
One of the sad parts of the story is that the anger is directed in entirely the wrong direction. After 50 years of stagnation in wages for the majority of white American men, their frustration is understandable. I understand the frustration. I am, after all, a white American man. But income stagnation is not caused by minorities. It is not caused by immigrants. With virtually all of the benefit of the growth in the economy being absorbed by the upper 1% of the population, the wages and hopes and dreams of the majority are being consumed by a privileged few, many of whom did not earn their wealth, but inherited it. The system is unfair, but the cause of the injustice is not racial diversity.
Of course these topics are too big for a blog post. There is much more conversation that is needed as we work towards justice in our society. We human beings live broken lives. We make mistakes. We need forgiveness. We make messes that need to be cleaned up.
So I will return to the conviction that lies at the core of this morning’s reflection: it takes more than a fire to destroy a church. The arsonists don’t have the power to destroy the gospel. I think the fires are terrible. I wish they would stop immediately. But no matter how many fires they light, the truth of the Gospel will shine forth. The church will continue to worship, pray and study.
The lesson has been clear since the awesome power of the Roman government was brought to bear in the crucifixion of Jesus. Life is stronger than death. Love is stronger than hate. God’s work in this world cannot be stopped.
20 years ago there were more than 670 suspicious fires at churches. The federal government formed a National Church Arson Task Force to investigate the fires and prosecute the arsonists.
Now it seems as if the senseless violence has started again. In the two weeks since the brutal murder attacks at Emmanuel AME in Charleston, at least six African-American churches have been set ablaze. Three of those fires have been determined to be arson.
Since the early 19th century, church arson has been one of the weapons used by racists in their war to try to stop civil rights. After the passage of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Acts in the 20th Century, church arson spiked. Racists who couldn’t prevail in the civil arena turned to crime as a way to express their opinion.
In the days of slavery, the formation of a black church was considered to be an act of rebellion. The gospel was inherently opposed to the institution of slavery and offered hope to the slaves through the preaching that all people were equal before God and that justice would prevail.
Charleston’s Emmanuel AME Church, the scene of the shootings two weeks ago, was itself razed by city authorities in the 1820’s after a purported slave plot. The building was not rebuilt until reconstruction.
There is an important reality that the arsonists and proponents of hate can’t seem to understand: a church is more than a building. You can burn a church building to the ground, but that doesn’t stop the gathering of people for worship, prayer, praise and listening to God’s call. When states adopted draconian laws intended to shut down African-American churches, the churches simply went underground. Black congregations have remained an important spiritual force in the history of this country even when the buildings are burned and the institutions are banned.
The church remains at the core of the life of African Americans. And its gospel of love is simply stronger than the words of hate fomented by racists. Its gospel of love is simply stronger than the fires that destroy buildings. Its gospel of love is simply stronger than the bullets fired in hatred and anger.
Love never dies. You can read about it in the Bible. And these churches aren’t afraid to proclaim the words of the Bible.
In the course of teaching the Bible to their members African American congregations were centers of literacy training. People learned to read in churches. Between 1870 and 1900 literacy among African American s leapt from 5 percent to 70 percent. The center of the teaching was the church. The commitment to education wasn’t just a southern phenomenon. W.E.B. DuBois went to college with funds raised by First Congregational Church in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Our forebears in the church have always advocated education as a vehicle for promoting and extending the reach of the gospel.
It is no mistake that so many of the great leaders of the civil rights movement were ministers. It is no mistake that churches have been the centers of organization advocating for the rights of all human beings.
Being centers of organization also makes churches targets for those who seek to oppose the progress and hope they inspire.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, jr. in his speech, “It’s a Dark Day In Our Nation,” quoted Theodore Parker: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”
Those who light fires in an attempt to stem progress toward justice will not succeed. They cannot halt the flow of history. They do not have the power to control “the arc of the moral universe.” It may take a long time, but justice will prevail.
One of the sad parts of the story is that the anger is directed in entirely the wrong direction. After 50 years of stagnation in wages for the majority of white American men, their frustration is understandable. I understand the frustration. I am, after all, a white American man. But income stagnation is not caused by minorities. It is not caused by immigrants. With virtually all of the benefit of the growth in the economy being absorbed by the upper 1% of the population, the wages and hopes and dreams of the majority are being consumed by a privileged few, many of whom did not earn their wealth, but inherited it. The system is unfair, but the cause of the injustice is not racial diversity.
Of course these topics are too big for a blog post. There is much more conversation that is needed as we work towards justice in our society. We human beings live broken lives. We make mistakes. We need forgiveness. We make messes that need to be cleaned up.
So I will return to the conviction that lies at the core of this morning’s reflection: it takes more than a fire to destroy a church. The arsonists don’t have the power to destroy the gospel. I think the fires are terrible. I wish they would stop immediately. But no matter how many fires they light, the truth of the Gospel will shine forth. The church will continue to worship, pray and study.
The lesson has been clear since the awesome power of the Roman government was brought to bear in the crucifixion of Jesus. Life is stronger than death. Love is stronger than hate. God’s work in this world cannot be stopped.