In June of 2015, a twenty-one-year-old man walked into a Bible study at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina — a historic Black congregation. He sat with the group for an hour. Then he took out a gun and killed nine people.

It was an act of cowardice and racial hatred. The shock and grief were immeasurable.

But what happened in the days that followed stopped the country in its tracks. Family members of the victims stood before the killer in court and offered him forgiveness.

Nadine Collier, whose mother was among those killed, looked at the shooter and said: "You took something very precious away from me. I will never talk to her ever again. I will never be able to hold her again. But I forgive you. And have mercy on your soul."

Bethane Middleton-Brown, who lost her sister, said: "I acknowledge that I am very angry. But my sister taught me that we are the family that love built. We have no room for hating."

They were criticized by some for forgiving too quickly. But I think they understood something the critics missed. Their forgiveness was not a denial of their grief or an excuse for what had been done. It was a witness — a costly, deliberate witness to the kind of king they follow.

We worship a King who, from the cross, said "Father, forgive them." A King who overcame the worst the world could do not with retaliation but with love. When the people of Emanuel AME chose forgiveness, they were not being naive. They were being faithful. They were picking up their cross.

We have no room for hating. What a testimony. What a King!

Prayer: Forgive us, Lord God, for the ways we hold onto anger and nurse our grievances. Give us the courage of those who have chosen forgiveness in circumstances far harder than our own. Make us people who have no room for hating — because we are too full of love. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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