A Child of the “Mother”
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Bishop Neal Ellis had the congregation stirred up. We were praising God, asking him to cover the shepherd of the Life Center, Bishop Brian Moore, and his family, when, suddenly, men came to the stage. They conferred with Bishop Moore to the side. Then Bishop Moore went to the stage.
Like everyone else, I thought, what is going on?
Then came the most grievous announcement I have ever heard. Words that cut deeper than a double-edged sword.
“We have just been alerted that they are going around shooting in churches. There has been a shooting at Emanuel Church on Calhoun Street.”
My first thought was: Who has the nerve to get angry enough with someone to go to the church and shoot him or her. Somebody must have run into the church to be shot in the church. I wonder who it is. Then I thought, No, it could not have happened at Emanuel, it must have happened at the service station on the corner. Let me call someone. These people do not know what they are talking about. No one goes into church to shoot people who are worshiping.
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About the Book
When your church becomes the scene of the crime, how do you move forward with forgiveness and love in your heart? When the bell tolls for your pastor and your church family, where do you get the strength to say farewell? On June 17, 2015, a young white supremacist walked through a side entrance of “Mother” Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, and killed nine people.
In A Child of the “Mother”, author Evelyn Rose Sinkler, a longtime parishioner, tells how the history of hatred of blacks in America once again reared its ugly head, and she discusses how members of that church were thrust into unimaginable days of grief. She reveals her journey of mourning and chronicles the days of the funerals as an usher at some of the funerals. Sinkler shares the emotional roller coaster the church family experienced as they memorialized the lives of their pastor and friends.
Through heartfelt words, journal entries, and poems, this memoir offers a testament of the love and respect Sinkler holds for the nine lives lost and the survivors of June 17, 2015. It also provides a testament that family and a church family built on a foundation of love can lift one up during the darkest hours.
About the Author
Evelyn Rose Sinkler grew up in Charleston, South Carolina, and is a member of “Mother” Emanuel AME Church. She felt a bond with the people who were shot down at her church June 17, 2015. Sinkler taught high school English for more than thirty years in the Charleston County Schools. As a retired educator, she continues to contribute to the field of education as a tutor for at-risk students. Sinkler has two sons, two daughters of the heart, two grandsons, and a very large family and extended family who love and support her in all she does.