{"id":12124,"date":"2020-10-22T14:03:58","date_gmt":"2020-10-22T21:03:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/gospel-express\/2020-goodlife-copy\/"},"modified":"2020-10-22T14:34:58","modified_gmt":"2020-10-22T21:34:58","slug":"2020-anotherway","status":"publish","type":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/gospel-express\/2020-anotherway\/","title":{"rendered":"Showing Us Another Way"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Philip Yancey<\/p>\n

Again and again this year, scenes of racial injustice have played out before our eyes. African Americans insist that such incidents are nothing new; the difference is that now iPhones and body cameras record them for the world to see. Tragically, some of the resulting protests have led to violence.<\/p>\n

……………………………………………………………………………….<\/p>\n

\"\"In a year marked by division and hostility, I find myself going back to an event from 2015 that played out in Charleston, South Carolina. One warm evening a young white man with blond hair joined 12 African Americans in a Bible study at the historic Mother Emanuel church. He was the first white man to attend, and the others welcomed him gladly.<\/p>\n

Dylann Roof sat through the hour-long lesson on Jesus\u2019 parable of sowing the seed. As the group stood for a closing prayer, he reached into his fanny pack, pulled out a Glock .45 mm pistol and proceeded to shoot the Bible study members. Moving methodically from one table to the next, he fired at point-blank range, all the while yelling racial slurs and insults. \u201cI have to do it,\u201d he shouted. \u201cYou rape our women, and you are taking over our country. And you have to go!\u201d<\/p>\n

Dylann reloaded his automatic pistol five times. He stood over the victims, searching for any signs of life, and fired a total of 60 bullets into their bodies. Nine people died that night in an act that stunned the nation. The killer let one woman live, so she could tell the story of what happened, and two others somehow managed to survive.<\/p>\n

Last year, the basketball player Stephen Curry and the actress Viola Davis joined together to produce a movie,\u00a0Emanuel,<\/em>\u00a0about the church massacre. And a pastor named Anthony Thompson published a personal account:\u00a0Called to Forgive<\/em>. Thompson dedicated his book to the memory of the Emanuel Nine, including his wife Myra, the leader of the Bible study. For years Myra had studied to become a minister and that very night had finally received her preaching license. The fateful Bible study at Emanuel church was the first that she led\u2014and the last.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

To show support for Myra, Emanuel\u2019s pastor\u2014who also served as a state senator\u2014skipped an important political meeting and joined the Bible study. He too was killed, and a short time later President Barack Obama would travel to Charleston to speak at his funeral. Who can forget the moving scene of a U. S. President trying to control his voice as he spontaneously led the singing of the hymn\u00a0Amazing Grace<\/em>.<\/p>\n