photo by Boyd Loving at Metropolitan AME Church in Ridgewood
JUNE 21, 2015, 10:10 PM LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, JUNE 21, 2015, 11:46 PM
BY NICHOLAS PUGLIESE, LINDA MOSS AND JIM NORMAN
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD
Although the killing of nine people at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church happened more than 700 miles away in Charleston, S.C., churchgoers in North Jersey felt the reverberations strongly Sunday as they prayed for the victims and their loved ones.
At the Bethel A.M.E. Church in Paterson, the Rev. Allan Boyer asked worshipers to help him light candles in honor of the victims.
The nine flickering lights represented a deep connection between the two churches, Boyer said. Both were started over 150 years ago by individuals concerned with the fight for civil rights. Both boast a link to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who delivered a speech at Emanuel in 1962 and visited the building where Bethel is currently housed just eight days before his assassination in 1968.
And now, both are relying on their faith to respond to mindless hate with Christian love. “We hate the sin, but love the sinner,” Boyer said Sunday, urging his congregation not to be consumed by anger in the wake of the shootings. “If you’re going to be a Christian, sometimes you have to bite your tongue. Sometimes you have to turn the other cheek and walk away.”
At Christ Temple Baptist Church in Paterson, the Rev. Gregory Turner lauded the relatives of the Charleston victims for forgiving suspect Dylann Roof.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/north-jersey-churchgoers-unite-in-spirit-with-charleston-1.1360311
