[Magdalen] Please Pray - Shooting in Charleston, SC church

[anthony clavier]

 really can't understand how some of my friends can't bring themselves to
acknowledge the grim reality of racism and who seek to advance the theory
that symbols of racism are somehow neutral, because they fear that to admit
this horror would somehow weaken their other political ideals. My
great-great grandfather, Antoine Clavier de Cas Navire was black, of mixed
race, a graduate of the Sorbonne, who was expelled from Martinique for
championing the rights of slaves. My grandfather, a doctor, was colored.
When he came to England from Guyana after the war, when I was seven, I met
him and gasped, "Mummy my Grandpa is a black man." He roared with laughter
and loved me. I was taught from the earliest age that color, like beauty is
skin deep, and that it's who we are, not what we are that counts. It sounds
simple but it is hard to break out of safer habits.

However I'm very much afraid that when the dust settles, we will swiftly
forget the Charleston massacre, the media will move to another subject,
and, until this sort of tragedy recurs, we will bury our heads in the sand
because we dare not admit that there runs through contemporary society a
deep vein of intolerance towards any caste that isn't like our own. Jesus
wept.

Tony

On Sun, Jun 21, 2015 at 9:47 AM, <sally.davies at gmail.com> wrote:

> Ginga mentioned, previously, the good hearts of the people of SC and of
> Charleston. Well, I'm watching CNN and outside First Emanuel Church is a
> huge crowd of people that came together to take a stand against calling
> evil good, and to show love and solidarity to the grieving. Most of them
> are white...So Ginga, I get what you were saying and it's so good to see
> this.
>
> I was just channel spinning, when a familiar song caught my attention, "How
> Great is our God", a contemporary song by Chris Tomlin that I personally
> like, and which seems to cross cultural boundaries rather well. It was part
> of the worship in First Emanuel at this significant service.
>
> So from the tragico-pathetic actions of a miserable "lone wolf", it seems a
> great deal of good can come...let us pray that it transcends the emotion of
> the moment and feeds into something widespread and sustained.
>
> The sweet spirit of our sister Capers could be dancing with joy to see
> this, in the city she loved.
>
> Sally D
>
> On Sun, 21 Jun 2015 at 1:44 AM Jon Egger <revegger at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Last Thursday I had coffee with our former diocesan canon to the ordinary
> > who is my spiritual director , and we both felt, that as pastors, neither
> > of us would carry a gun nor even think about shoot anyone.
> >
> > On Sat, Jun 20, 2015 at 3:51 PM, ME Michaud <michaudme at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > I was correct, BTW.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/19/nra-mass-shootings-south-carolina-church
> > >
> > > -M
> > >
> > > On Saturday, June 20, 2015, Lynn Ronkainen <houstonklr at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > >
> > > > IAN  M bit I think whole point of M's post was the NRA's response
> > actual
> > > > or imagined.
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
>



-- 
The Rev. Tony Clavier
Vicar: St. Thomas' Episcopal Church, Glen Carbon IL
and St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, Granite City IL