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Prayers for peace: Dozens gather at Chattanooga church to honor Charleston shooting victims
Lawanda Prater sat on an old wooden pew Wednesday night thinking about how similar her church is to the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., where nine people were gunned down in a prayer service last week.
“The windows and pews I see in pictures of that church where those people were shot remind me of here,” she said as she sat with one arm on the edge of the pew. “They even have similar carvings on their pews like these here. I felt compelled to come and pray for them tonight.”
Prater was one of more than 50 people gathered at the historic Bethlehem-Wiley United Methodist Church in downtown Chattanooga to remember the lives taken a week ago at Emanuel. Prayers for peace, comfort and racial reconciliation echoed from the high wooden ceilings of the sanctuary, as light from the setting sun softly streamed through the stained glass windows.
During the service, nine people walked to the front of the sanctuary and lit candles next to pictures of each victim of the shooting. They shared briefly about the victim and prayed as an old hymn with the chorus “it is well” played softly in the background.
Bethlehem-Wiley’s Pastor Willie Kitchens reminded those gathered that this is not the first time the Christian church has been persecuted.