Just hours after a judge sentenced Dylann Roof to death for killing nine church members during a study of Scripture, parishioners gathered Wednesday in the very room where the massacre took place — for another Bible study.
Wednesday’s theme was repentance. But the Rev. Eric S.C. Manning fielded questions about so much more in the basement of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, including queries on Roof, forgiveness, and capital punishment.
They were heavy topics on a heavy day. Manning saw a chance to momentarily lighten the mood.
“One day, deacons are walking into church and they see Satan outside crying. They asked, ‘Why are you crying?’ ” Manning said.
Worshippers peered at him, waiting for the punchline.
“Satan said: ‘They’re blaming me for stuff,'” said Manning.
The room chuckled as Manning found a way to bring some ease to those grappling with the enormity of what happened in that very spot, also on a Wednesday evening, in June 2015.
Roof, an avowed white supremacist, gunned down nine people during a Bible study there — a study he sat through for 40 minutes before opening fire. Despite the bloodshed, the church has continued using the room for Wednesday study — even the week after the massacre.
Questions during Bible study
Someone asked: If repentance is so important, why is it one of the things least talked about in church?
Another asked: “You’ve seen Dylann Roof. It’s hard for me to comprehend someone could be so evil. Is it possible he’s possessed? Like Satan?”
Manning was picked to lead the congregation after the killings. The former pastor, Clementa Pinckney, was among the nine people who lost their lives in the massacre.
Earlier in the day, Manning stood in a federal courtroom in Charleston as the court heard from nearly three dozen family members and friend of the victims. Manning was the last one to address Roof before the judge carried out the jury’s recommendation that he receive the death penalty. Manning told the killer: “If you repent and seek [His] forgiveness, he will surely do that for you.”
At the Bible study, Manning recited Scripture from the second chapter of Romans about God’s righteous judgment.
“If on that final day of judgment, you have no repentance, you have no lawyer to plead your case,” he said to the roughly 30 participants.
Looking up at the ceiling, the reverend laughed.
“I just thought about what I said there,” he said, referring to Roof, who represented himself in the sentencing phase.
The room again relaxed into laughter.
Manning tried throughout the hour to steer the Bible study back to the Scriptures, but before he could, someone asked how the church felt about the death penalty.
“Well, the church can’t endorse the death penalty. We should acknowledge as Christ did, we meet people where they are,” Manning said.
An “amen” broke the silence.
Manning looked at the clock. The minutes ticked closer to 7 o’clock. He had promised his wife of 25 years he would be home soon.
What’s in your heart will come out
He pointed to a man who was in court on Wednesday.
The man said: “I listened to some of the dearest people imaginable confront Dylann Roof. Charleston looks on Mother Emanuel as the fountain of forgiveness but … I found myself siding with people who said ‘rot in hell’ — and that’s not the Christian thing to do.”
People shifted in their seats, and the reverend paused.
“What is in your heart is going to come out,” Manning told the man, “and I do not condemn the person” for feeling that way.
It’s now well past 7 o’clock.
Manning answered one more question from a parishioner, who asked whether he felt the burden of the trial at any point.
“I reached that point yesterday of how much I could take,” Manning said.
Bibles were collected. People bowed their heads. And the Emanuel 9 were remembered in prayer.