The "Having Faith Really Does Matter" Story

It was an ordinary day; May 31 in the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania and all was not well.  By mid-afternoon a large group of protesters had begun to gather in front of Lancaster's City Police Station to protest the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis.  

Mayor Danene Sorace

Wasn't long before Mayor Danene Sorace had put out a call for help from the local faith leaders in Lancaster.  The Minister and Assistant Minister at the church where I am a member, St. James Episcopal, which is three blocks from the Police Station, showed up to assist in calming the crowd.  Rev. David Peck, said in an interview with the local newspaper, that it was a very frightened and angry environment.   There was tension in the air with dozens of Police vehicles and many demonstrators.  The Mayor asked if they could pray first.  Protests around the country such as this had turned violent in many cities and towns.  Rev. Peck said that they weren't called just to pray for peace, but to help build peace.  The Mayor gave credit to Blanding Watson for coordinating  her request for the gathering the faith leaders, since Watson is the president of the Lancaster County branch of the NAACP.  Blanding Watson understood the moment more than others and had participated in moments such as this in the past and knew how to handle the hostility.  

Rev. David Peck

She immedia- tely asked her sister, Rev. Shayna Watson, associate pastor of St. James Episcopal, for help since she had helped organize events in downtown Lancaster at a rally in 2017 were more than 300 people arrived at Penn Square to support immigrants and refugees.  Blanding Watson said she felt the presence of a faith group would provide a different energy to the crowd.  Just the wearing of the collar and cross can change the demeanor of the crowd.  Seemed to work since protestors put out their cigarettes and stopped cursing in the presence of clergy.  Rev. Watson said they could provide the help since they had training in de-escalation.  The Rev. Edward Bailey of Lancaster's AME Church (African Methodist Episcopal) spoke and shared a message of loving your neighbor.

Rev. Shsyna Watson

Several other pastors put themselves between the police and protestors.  One minister wanted to be there for both sides and to show solidarity with the young people protesting and hear their pain and to let the police there know they were there for them, also.   A few of the clergy ended up taking pepper spray, but said they would do it again to protect the crowd.  The police eventually pulled back and the violence ended.  Rev. Peck was pleased that protests in the past few days have a peaceful tone to them.  It was not an accident that Lancaster was able to bear the weight of suffering and protests without the escalation and violence.  There is hope for the city of Lancaster, but the ongoing work to correct the many problems that led to the protest in the first place must be addressed.  Hopefully in the same manner that the faith group illustrated.  Lancaster will survive and hopefully make the necessary changes in attitude.  Let's all pray that that will happen.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.