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 "We are reminded this morning about the freshness of death that
comes like a thief in the night," the Reverend Norvel Goff told a
mostly black congregation that swelled to about 400 people for a
service remembering those killed on Wednesday in the latest U.S.
mass shooting.
Armed police searched bags at the door of the church, home to the
oldest African-American congregation in the southern United States,
and officers stood at intervals inside the church along the side of
the nave and in the gallery.
Outside the church, a large, mostly white crowd gathered to express
solidarity with those inside.
Goff's rollicking sermon brought people alternately to tears and
laughter as the church reopened to worshippers for the first time
since the shooting. They whooped, cheered and raised their hands,
and ended the service with embraces after Goff, whose voice rose to
a shout at times, encouraged them to "hug three people next to you
and tell them, 'It's going to be alright.'"
The suspect, Dylann Roof, was arrested on Thursday and has been
charged with nine counts of murder. Authorities say he spent an hour
in an evening Bible study group at the church, nicknamed "Mother
Emanuel" for its key role in U.S. black history, before opening
fire.
 Federal investigators were examining a racist manifesto on a website
that appeared to have been written by Roof. The site featured white
supremacist writings and photos, apparently of Roof.
Goff was standing in for Clementa Pinckney, 41, senior pastor at
Emanuel and a Democratic member of the state Senate who was killed
in the massacre.
"When evil is in the world, you and I may not be able to control
evil-doers. ... Some of us are still trying to seek answers to what
happened last week, Wednesday," Goff said. "I've decided to turn it
to over to Jesus."
Among those at the service, which lasted more than two hours, were
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, U.S. Senator Tim Scott,
Charleston Mayor Joseph Riley and Republican presidential candidate
Rick Santorum.
"The blood of the Mother Emanuel Nine requires us to work until not
only justice in this case but for those who are still living in the
margin of life, those who are less fortunate than ourselves, that we
stay on the battlefield until there is no more fight to be fought,"
Goff said.
Hand fans fluttered as those in attendance tried to beat the heat.
"I thought the service was comforting, refreshing and encouraging,"
said Everald Galbraith, 58, president of the Methodist church in
Jamaica, who attended the service. "There was not a sense of great
mourning. They recognized what had happened but there was confidence
in the salvation of those that died."
The massacre has again trained a spotlight on the divisive issues of
race relations and gun crime in the United States and reignited a
debate over gun control in a country where the right to own firearms
is constitutionally protected.
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On Sunday evening about 150 people gathered for a prayer vigil
outside the church. At about the same time, a line of people joined
hands across the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, a span that links
Charleston with its neighboring suburb of Mount Pleasant in an event
meant to show a united community.
GUN CONTROL
Riley, on the CNN program "State of the Union," called for stricter
gun control laws.
"It is insane the number of guns and the ease of getting guns in
America," Riley said. "It's not that people should not carry guns
and all of that, it's just that there are so many of them and the
ease of them and there is no accountability."
President Barack Obama, in an interview recorded on Friday,
expressed frustration over the issue. He blamed the powerful
National Rifle Association gun-rights lobby group and public apathy
for the failure to implement new gun control measures.
The church massacre has also renewed the controversy around the flag
of the pro-slavery Confederate Southern states in the American Civil
War that ended in 1865. It is a symbol of Southern pride for some
and an emblem of hatred for others.
On NBC's "Meet the Press," James Clyburn, a black Democratic U.S.
congressman from South Carolina, called on state lawmakers to pass
legislation to remove the flag from the state capitol grounds, where
it is mandated by law to fly.
The church shootings were the main topic at other Sunday services in
Charleston.
At the predominantly white-membership St. Michael's Church, founded
in the 17th century, the Reverend Alfred Zadig Jr. said he did not
know any of the victims and asked for forgiveness "for failing to be
a pastor who reaches out beyond my world."
"You and I are so good at compartmentalizing grief," Zadig told his
congregation. "Today I'm asking you to feel the unthinkable pain ...
This is not God's will. God did not ordain this event to happen to
make a point about racism."
(Additional reporting by Harriet McLeod in Charleston and Lucia
Mutikani in Washington; Writing by Will Dunham; Editing by Frances
Kerry and Eric Walsh)
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