Charleston

This past week an unspeakable horror happened at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. 9 innocent people were senselessly shot down. They were there studying scripture and growing deeper in their relationship with God. Then, due to that terrible sin of hate and racism, they were shot down in cold blood by someone who hated them only because of the color of their skin!

I may be naive, but I find it amazing that racism and hatred like this still exists in the 21st century. More than 2,000 years ago, Jesus taught about love of God and love of neighbor, "'Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?' He said to him,  'You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.'"(Matthew 22:36-40) Are we doing what Jesus expects us to do? We are called to love God and our neighbor. We are to love our neighbor regardless of how they look or how different they may seem to be. We are called to accept and love them as people created in the image of God.

Then Martin Luther King, during his great speech more than 50 years ago said, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Has that happened yet? I don't think so.

It is all our responsibilities to remove hatred, racism and violence from ourselves and from the  society we live in. We need to start with ourselves and examine our attitudes towards others that may be different than us.  People are not born racist, they learn it. Further, it's our responsibility that the children in our lives are taught to love and respect all people.

Let us pray for the victims of those that died at the Emmanuel AME Church. May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace. Further let's pray for their families who struggle to deal with such a loss. Finally, let's pray for those that hate. May God remove this hatred from them, and replace it with love and respect for all people that are made in His image.