By The Rev. Shannon Mullen
The South Carolina Synod Assembly gathered on Friday for a deeply moving Service of Lament expressing multiple layers of grief. This solemn worship commemorated the 10th anniversary of the Emanuel Nine shooting, mourned deceased clergy and lay leaders, grieved closed congregations, and lamented severed ties with other Lutheran churches. The service created sacred space to reflect upon these losses and changes which have so impacted the Synod’s journey.
The service began powerfully: “Church of God, are you ready? Are you ready to meet the Lord?” The following silence allowed the weight of remembrance to settle upon the gathered congregation.
Throughout worship, the reading of names and a tolling bell marked each sacred moment, the alternating peals and silences serving as calls to prayer and reflection, connecting the hearts of those gathered with their rhythm of remembrance, shared grief, and hope.
The first lament shared was for the Emanuel Nine, tragically killed in Bible study at Mother Emanuel AME Church by a young man of our own raising. Each martyr lost was remembered individually: The Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney, Cynthia Marie Graham Hurd, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lee Lance, The Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, Tywanza Sanders, The Rev. Daniel Lee Simmons, The Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, and The Rev. Myra Thompson. Both Rev. Pinckney and Rev. Simmons were graduates of our Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary.
Scripture readings offered comfort in our lament. Revelation promised that in God’s reign, death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more. The Gospel of John reminded worshipers that Christ grieves with those who mourn.
The assembly next offered lament for the loss of leaders who have died since the last assembly. Those remembered were: The Rev. Jack D. Deal, Sr., The Rev. Dr. Robert E. McCollum, The Rev. George Baylis Corley, The Rev. Clifford Alfred Riis, The Rev. Robert Brown Lineberger, The Rev. Caldwell N. “Cobby” Day, The Rev. Russell Howard Anderson, Barbara H. “Bobbie” Sides, Betty May Habenicht Park, Mabel Shealy Trexler, and Kristen Nicole Frizzell Antley.
The expressions of grief were lifted for congregations closed in the past year: St. John’s Lutheran Church in Johnston, Christ the King Lutheran Church in Greenville, and Restoration Chapel in Columbia.
Finally, prayers of lament were offered for congregations that had “severed ties” with the SC Synod: Cedar Grove, Batesburg-Leesville; Silverstreet, Silverstreet; and Mt. Tabor, Little Mountain. The prayer “May the LORD watch between you and me, when we are absent one from the other” asked God for grace amid division.
Hymns throughout the service, including It’s Me, Lord, Healer of Our Every Ill, Now the Green Blade Rises, and There Is a Balm in Gilead expressed the complex intermingling of grief and hope that fills us as we seek hope and healing as from God.
From invocation to benediction, the Assembly’s Service of Lament provided sacred space to grieve, remember, and find hope in God’s promise that the powers of fear, sin, and death are ultimately undone by the power of God’s Love and Life.
