Clementa Pinckney's home church keeps doors open
The doors at St. John African Methodist Episcopal Church near Ridgeland were always open to Clementa Pinckney.
He preached there for the first time at age 13. But his friends and kin knew much earlier that his life would be profound.
On Sunday morning, they turned to faith that God is in control to cope with the murder of Pinckney and eight others last Wednesday night during a Bible study at the historic church he pastored in Charleston.
"Let God be God," said the Rev. Gregory M. Kinsey. "Many times we want to be God. We want to think we can control things."
Before Pinckney became a state representative at age 23, and then a state senator, he burst the doors down of his rural church in the outskirts of Tillman. He was a pastor at age 18. And when he was killed at only 41, he was leading one of the most significant churches in the Deep South, Emanuel AME in Charleston.
It was there that "Hate and Evil -- armed and dangerous -- came to an intergenerational Bible study and prayer meeting," stated a litany called "The Doors of the Church Are Still Open" read at St. John and all other AME churches Sunday.
"The evil one wanted a race war; instead there came an outpouring of love, sympathy and tears from white people and people of every race," the litany read.
At the Father's Day service in the red brick church where young Pinckney heard a whisper saying, "Preach," elderly member Franklin Simmons was moved to lead an impromptu song:
"Farther along we'll know more about it,
Farther along we'll understand why;
Cheer up, my brother, live in the sunshine,
We'll understand it all by and by."
FAMILY COMPOUND
Pinckney's mother, Theopia, was praying at St. John when his uncle caught the child's eye.
"He was 3 years old and running around right here at the altar," Donald Stevenson of Ridgeland said after Sunday's service.
"I asked him to come sit beside me. I made him behave. He learned something."
Pinckney was reared in the Stevenson family compound off Bees Creek Road. At the head of the road along S.C. Hwy. 462, a billboard has stood for years emblazoned with a Confederate flag and the words "Never Forget," symbols held dear by the suspect in the Emanuel massacre, Dylann Roof.
Donald Stevenson is a retired school teacher known for selling produce door to door from the back of his truck as well as at farmers markets throughout the Lowcountry. He is but one of the uncles who were pillars in Clementa's life after his parents separated.
Pinckney's uncle Lavern Stevenson was a preacher who taught him the ways of the church.
Donald Stevenson taught him hard work.
"I told him we were going to have a party, and it would be chopping wood," he said.
His wife, Emma, said Clementa's mother also was a "workaholic." She worked for the Jasper County schools, then opened her own daycare center.
"I'm just praying and asking God to help me to be able to forgive," Emma Stevenson said after church. "Because in order to go to heaven, you have to forgive. I pray that we as a nation will find peace. In order to do that, hatred cannot be in the picture."
Her daughter, Hilda Stevenson-Stewart, said, "You forgive. God will do the rest."
'I WILL BE WITH YOU'
Rosalyn Fulton-Warren still remembers the day she and Pinckney were crowned May Day king and queen at Jasper Primary School.
They were first-graders that year, and they would go on to graduate from Ridgeland High School together.
"He was a book guy, but he always had a sense of humor," she said. "We all knew he had the stature of a leader."
His classmates could not get Pinckney to dress down. He often wore ties to middle school.
Pinckney was known to be kind to his classmates. Beatrice McClary, one of his teachers who was at church Sunday, said he was a determined student who did not like to take "no" for an answer.
Pinckney's lifelong demeanor makes it hard for the St. John faithful to find answers this week.
"I was raised in this church to love everybody, be kind, and not to judge them," Fulton-Warren said. "To learn that someone would (allegedly) do this due to hate, it's sad. It's very hard. It makes you question the people of this world. Always, hearing the Word gives me peace."
The Scripture pastor Kinsey chose for this Sunday was Isaiah 43:1-6. He focused on the comforting thoughts: "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you."
He urged all hands to be on deck Thursday when the body of the native son who made them so proud will lie in the sanctuary for public viewing before returning to Mother Emanuel one last time.
"Go forth with the spirit of victory," pastor Kinsey said, "knowing that God is still by our sides, knowing that God is in control. And if we do that, that is how we can honor the memory of Clementa Pinckney."
Follow columnist and senior editor David Lauderdale at twitter.com/ThatsLauderdale and facebook.com/david.lauderdale.16.
The Doors of the Church Are Still Open
Leader: "The doors of the church are open" is an announcement made at nearly every service. It was regularly spoken at Emanuel Church of Charleston, known to us at the "Mother" of African Methodism in the Deep South. As members of the AME Family, we feel a connection with the Connection, even on Father's Day, and today our proud connection is more keenly felt.
People: O God, "The doors of the church are still open."
Leader: Hate and Evil -- armed and dangerous -- came to an intergenerational Bible Study and Prayer Meeting Wednesday night at Mother Emanuel, accompanied by unfathomable horror, leaving a trail of blood and hurt across the African Methodist Connection, Charleston and the world.
People: O God, "The doors of the church are still open" and still we believe that "We sorrow not as those who have no hope." (1 Thessalonians 4:13)
Leader: The "Emanuel Nine" had names -- and families, and lives, and careers, and places to go and things to do. They were colleagues, friends and kin: the Honorable Rev. Clementa Pinckney (41), the Rev. Daniel "Super" Simmons (74), the Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton (45), Brother Tywanza Sanders (26), Sister DePayne Middleton Doctor (49), Sister Cynthia Hurd (54), Sister Myra Thompson (59), Sister Ethel Lance (70), and Sister Susie Jackson (87). Then pure evil showed up at Bible Study and turned their lives to past tense, and our lives to turmoil, and made an infamous name for himself.
People: O God, "The doors of the church are still open" and we affirm Your Word that "Perfect love casts out fear." (1 John 4:18)
Leader: 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.
People: O God, "The doors of the church are still open" and "our faith looks up to Thee" and "will not shrink though pressed by every foe."
Leader: The evil one wanted a race war; instead there came an outpouring of love, sympathy and tears from white people and people of every race; and fervent prayers offered for him by black people. With shock and anger still wafting in the air, family members amazingly spoke words of forgiveness, and the community sang together and spoke of hope. We have learned at least this much in our walk with God in Christ: "Unmerited suffering is still redemptive."
People: O God, "The doors of the church are still open," and we affirm the Word of Christ, "Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid." (John 14:27b)
Leader: While we are called to a heightened sense of vigilance to protect the lives of those who walk through "open doors" and find an open altar, and to worship and study in peace, we will encourage ourselves in the Word of God, in fellowship, sharing our mutual woes and joys.
People: Holy God, amid so much sorrow and so many questions, we affirm Your Word, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God. (2 Corinthians 1: 3-4)
O God, we declare and decree, "The doors of the church are still open!"
This story was originally published June 21, 2015 at 8:25 PM with the headline "Clementa Pinckney's home church keeps doors open."