Sunday church services nationwide spoke to the tragedy in Charleston, South Carolina.
Pastors from across the state led prayers as hundreds gathered Sunday evening at Avery Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Oklahoma City for a prayer service honoring the nine victims of last week’s shooting.
“We will not lay down and be divided by evil,” Avery Chapel senior pastor the Rev. D. Lavel Crawford told the roughly 250 attendees.
Crowds stood, clapped their hands and swayed side to side as the choir sang during the vigil. In between traditional hymns and candle lightings honoring the nine people who died in South Carolina, reverends stepped up to pray and lead attendees in a call and response.
“Our faith will not be stolen, even by violence as heinous as the assassination of nine innocent people and the terror that left bodies wounded and souls injured among those who survived the attack,” said the Rev. Ruth Holmes of Collins Community AME Church in Oklahoma City.
Avery Chapel member Jada Merritt said even though the shooting happened at a sister AME church, the attack could've taken place anywhere.
“Even if that had been a Lutheran church, a Catholic church, a Baptist church, that could’ve been any one of us that invited a stranger and had him do what he did," Merritt said.
21-year-old Dylann Roof allegedly sat with victims for an hour during Bible study before opening fire as he made derogatory statements toward African-Americans and other minorities.
Several elected officials also took to the pulpit to share their thoughts, according to The Oklahoman’s Carla Hinton:
Oklahoma County Commissioner Willa Johnson said she had hoped that America had moved past racial attacks like the one at the Charleston church. "I thought by this time in my life, this would all be over," she said. State Sen. Anastasia Pittman urged those gathered to replace hate with hope. "When you can't even go to church and be safe, it's a crisis," Pittman said. "Hope causes you to live like Jesus. Hope inspires you to persevere. I ask you to join me in replacing hate with hope."
Oklahoma City attorney David Slane, who also helped reach out to the African-American community when a white University of Oklahoma student led a racist chant on a fraternity charter bus, spoke about the nation’s racial division. He received a standing ovation.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
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