wfn.org | Worship Service Counteracts Klan

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (261
notes).

Note 261 by UMNS on Aug. 5, 1997 at 16:00 Eastern (3543 characters).

Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

Contact:  Joretta Purdue                       449(10-30-71B){261}
          Washington, D.C.  (202) 546-8722            Aug. 5, 1997

Rally worship service sends different message
in response to announced KKK cross burning

                 by United Methodist News Service

     A plan to hold a Ku Klux Klan rally near Crofton, Md., a
community of 12,000 located roughly between Washington and
Annapolis, Md., apparently fizzled when faced by a counter-
demonstration of unity led by United Methodists.
     Both events were scheduled for 7 p.m. Aug. 2, but neither the
police nor a drove of media representatives could find any sign of
a Klan gathering.
     Instead, the story of the evening was the rally of more than
300 people in the parking lot of Crofton's Community United
Methodist Church.
     The rally, a complete worship service that ended with a
candlelighting and illumination of a large cross, was organized by
the church's pastor, the Rev. Christopher Holmes, and other
pastors in a cluster meeting after fliers announcing a Klan
gathering had been circulated in the community.
     "Love is the message, and the message is love," The Rev.
Herbert Watson, minister of St. Mark's United Methodist Church in
Hanover, Md., told the diverse group assembled for the rally. They
echoed the words in an affirmative chant.
     Holmes, who welcomed the crowd, advised, "If you have come
here tonight to join with others in a spirit of hatred toward the
Klan or any other group in our society, then you are in the wrong
place. But, if you are here to be an instrument of peace then you
are in the right place." He then offered a prayer of unity.
     In the key address, Bishop Felton E. May, presiding bishop of
the Baltimore-Washington Conference, challenged the ecumenical
community to deal with the segregation of worship.
     "Why is it," he asked, "when God has told us to be one,
regardless of race or creed, that Sunday morning services continue
to be one hue?"
     Observing that systemic changes are needed to achieve peace
in the United States, the bishop challenged the audience to become
a movement for equality and systemic changes in a culture where
racial harmony is not yet reality.
     Other United Methodists, members of other denominations, a
Jewish rabbi and several local political figures added their
voices to the messages for unity.
     The service, which also included a choir and congregational
hymn singing, was titled "Breaking Down the Walls: a Celebration
of Unity in Diversity."
     When some people waved posters encouraging motorists to "honk
if you hate the Klan," they were asked to leave. When someone
shouted out a call for others to join them in confronting the
Klan, Holmes reminded the crowd that love, not aggression, is
needed to break down walls.
     Police reported that some people, whose vehicle registration
tags identified them as known KKK members, attempted to disrupt
the rally by driving by shouting obscenities and honking their car
horns, but worship participants were caught up in enthusiastic
singing and participatory listening.
     The service concluded after nightfall as the congregants
lifted lighted candles skyward while they joined in singing "The
Old Rugged Cross," and spotlights illuminated the 10-foot wooden
cross.
                              #  #  #

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