The African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church has called for solidarity from the religious community in response to the shootings at Mother Emanuel Church (AME) in Charleston, South Carolina, and designated Sunday, September 6, 2015, “Confession, Repentance and Commitment Sunday to End Racism.”
Leader: “Prayers can’t be answered unless they are prayed,” so the poet reminds us, and so we have honored the dead in vigils of remembrance, emotional prayers, heartfelt tributes, scripture-based homilies, fervent eulogies, thoughtful soliloquy, and appropriate words spoken by public officials, but something must follow the prayer meeting — ACTION.
People: Vigilance follows the Vigil!
Leader: “Tragedies are common place,” so writes the composer – and the choirs sing, and following the tragedies, vigils were called in New Town, Aurora, New York, Sanford, Jacksonville, North Charleston, Charleston, St. Louis, Ferguson, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Washington, DC and in sympathizing cities, villages and hamlets around the world, for the senseless deaths of mostly young victims —unarmed. That’s why something must follow the prayer meeting — ACTION.
People: Vigilance follows the Vigil!
Leader: “Shall we pray?” some sincere soul will rhetorically ask for very good reasons. Prayer centers the spirit, calms the mind, sharpens the thought, makes the vision keen, quickens the will, and throws a laser beam on a problem. At the end of the Vigil, when the “Amen” has been said and sung, something must follow the prayer meeting — ACTION.
People: Vigilance follows the Vigil!
Leader: “Pray as if everything depended on God; act as if everything depended on us,” so says the thoughtful theologian. It is putting feet to our faith, power to our prayers, urgency to the present concern, momentum to the Movement. “I received no answer” says Frederick Douglass, “until I prayed with my legs.” Something must follow the prayer meeting — ACTION.
People: Vigilance follows the Vigil!
Leader: Vigil is the starting place, not only to feel God’s Grace, but to do God’s Will — taking action against injustice. The sequence begins in theological reflection, the upward glance, deference to the Creator; marching orders for a parade route out of bondage to a Promised Land. Next steps include consensus- building for political, social, economic solutions. Something must follow the prayer meeting — ACTION.
People: Vigilance follows the Vigil!
Leader: After the Vigil, Vigilance, to be daily examples of love, peace, faith, hope, maturity, responsibility and excellence, so that succeeding generations will be motivated to become what they see in us — after we have prayed, not merely inspired by what we say. Something follows the prayer meeting — ACTION.
People: Vigilance follows the Vigil!
Leader: After the Vigil, Vigilance, for legislative cures, legal remedies, exercising the franchise to vote in every election, to hold lawmakers and public officials accountable. Something must follow the prayer meeting — ACTION.
People: Vigilance follows the Vigil!
Leader: After the Vigil, Vigilance, against racism. Race is unavoidable; racism is a decision and optional. Hate is a horrible heritage; injustice is a terrible legacy, intolerance is a hindrance to freedom; indifference is the precursor to decay, apathy is the door to destruction; hopelessness is a path to collective misery.
People: Prophetic ministry beckons us — again — to the Press, to the Polls, to the Precincts, to the Markets, to the School Boards, to the Statehouse, to the Capitol, to the White House — to express our Pain, to have our voices heard, our ideas considered, our demands met. Vigilance follows the Vigil.
Bishop Adam Jefferson Richardson, Jr. was elected and consecrated the 115th Bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1996 at Louisville, Kentucky. He was assigned to the 14th Episcopal District which includes six countries in West Africa. In the 2000 – 2004 quadrennial, he served as chair of the Lay Commission and as a member of the World Methodist Council. He has chaired the Health Commission and twice as chair of the Commission on Seminaries, Universities, Colleges and Schools. In 2002, Bishop Richardson served as President of the Council of Bishops and the Presiding Bishop of the 19th Episcopal District with headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa.
