Volume IX, Issue XXIV
Finding Imago Dei
Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest." -- Luke 10:2
From the Pastor's Page of Emmanuel AME Church:
The Reverend Honorable Clementa C. Pinckney was born July 30, 1973 the son of Mr. John Pinckney and the late Theopia Stevenson Pinckney of Ridgeland, South Carolina. He was educated in the public schools of Jasper County. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Allen University with a degree in Business Administration. While there, Reverend Pinckney served as freshman class president, student body president, and senior class president. Ebony Magazine recognized Rev. Pinckney as one the "Top College Students in America". During his junior year, he received a Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson Summer Research Fellowship in the fields of public policy and international affairs. He received a graduate fellowship to the University of South Carolina where he earned a Master's degree in public administration. He completed a Master's of Divinity from the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary.
Rev. Pinckney answered the call to preach at the age of thirteen and received his first appointment to pastor at the age of eighteen. He has served the following charges: Young's Chapel-Irmo, The Port Royal Circuit, Mount Horr-Yonges Island, Presiding Elder of the Wateree District and Campbell Chapel, Bluffton. He serves as the pastor of historic Mother Emanuel A.M.E. in Charleston, South Carolina.
Rev. Pinckney was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1996 at the age of twenty-three. In 2000, he was elected to the State Senate at the age of twenty-seven. He is one of the youngest persons and the youngest African-American in South Carolina to be elected to the State Legislature. He represents Jasper, Beaufort, Charleston, Colleton, and Hampton Counties. His committee assignments include Senate Finance, Banking and Insurance, Transportation, Medical Affairs and Corrections and Penology. Washington Post columnist, David Broder, called Rev. Pinckney a "political spirit lifter for suprisingly not becoming cynical about politics."
Rev. Pinckney has served in other capacities in the state to include a college trustee and corporate board member. In May 2010, he delivered the Commencement Address for the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary. He and his wife Jennifer have two children - Eliana and Malana.
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No doubt, Reverend Pinckney has heard the Master's commendation: "Well done, good and faithful servant," as he stepped into his eternal home, but his life well lived instructs us even in the wake of his death.
My friend Chris Lassiter writes: "Some of my friends use Facebook (and the internet) for pure comedy. Others use it to weigh in on important social issues. If you use it to weigh in on issues, please don't ignore the horrible shooting at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston because the racial implications can be uncomfortable. We've 'gotta' talk."
Indeed Chris, we do. I had decided to take a break from blogging this Summer and simply serialize my book, but your challenge is important. Reverend Pinckney lived the life I look for for my stories. He answered G-d's call at a young age and has already done far more with his short years than I have with mine. I pray for young people I know who have also answered the call... their lives are not that different from that of Reverend Pinckney's, so when I actually got to know something of the man through reading his biography, I was shaken. I know people like him. His death diminishes something I hold dear.
Not only must we pick up the torch of our fallen brother in ministry but we must renew our commitment to see IMAGO DEI, the Image of the Divine, in each person we encounter in our daily lives. In fact, as Reverend Picnkney was being brutally murdered, I was sitting in OUR Pastor's Bible study as we discussed just that... that G-d would have us see His Image in our fellows. We must see and celebrate the Divine Beauty in each person and see them as someone G-d loves extravagantly! Can we love as Christ loves? That would leave no room for our blindness and prejudice.