Salisbury community gathers for peaceful prayer and vigil
SALISBURY, Md. – Prayers of peace and a vigil took place at the Asbury United Methodist Church in Salisbury Friday. Church leaders say that their goal was to promote peace and stand in solidarity with people of color. “It was quite a good experience to see so many of our church folks and neighbors come out to show support for doing a better job as people of God, as a community, as a nation, as a world,” said Bishop Peggy Johnson.
Bishop Johnson told the people gathered that moments like those were just small steps that are necessary when it comes to achieving racial equality in America. The bishop summed it up by asking – how do you eat an elephant? The answer is one bite at a time. “Eating an elephant one bite at a time is how one ever accomplishes anything that’s huge and untenable and impossible, and yet when you eat an elephant one bite at a time, eventually you will have it consumed,” said Bishop Johnson.
Local church officials say that approach of doing their part one step at a time will help the community as a whole to heal from tragedies like the death of George Floyd. After prayers from multiple church leaders, silence was held for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. That’s the amount of time Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck. “It felt overwhelmingly long and I can’t imagine what Mr. Floyd was going through in that 8 minutes and 46 seconds, and I can’t imagine what was on the mind of the police officer who was holding him down,” said Reverend Christina Blake.
Rev. Blake says that the church has a responsibility to set an example for its worshipers when it comes to ending racism and promoting equality. “What action steps can we take as a church? How can we stand up to be the body of Christ and be the voice in the wilderness crying out for the end of this oppression?” said Rev. Blake.
Bishop Johnson says that continuing to set that example with peaceful demonstrations like the one on Friday is essential to making progress toward justice. “It’s not one and done. It’s not just show up to some events and look holy and hold up a sign and say we did that. No, we got to keep the heat on. We got to journey on and go the long haul,” said Bishop Johnson.
Wicomico County Sheriff Mike Lewis was also at the prayer service. Rev. Blake says that it’s important for community leaders to band together in times of uncertainty. “We can’t just pray. It isn’t enough for us to just pray, and find prayers. We need to be people of action, and so we need to work with out community leaders,” said Rev. Blake.
Reverend Blake says that in order to continue the effort and promotion of equality, she hopes to hold more services like that in the future.
