Mother’s Day service
The Rev. Dr. William Campbell Jr., left, senior pastor of the Anderson Chapel A.M.E. Church of Killeen, sings Sunday, May 11, 2014, with church members.
While the Anderson Chapel A.M.E. Church of Killeen spent Sunday remembering mothers in the local community, the congregation also turned its prayers overseas, thinking about the hundreds of girls who were abducted last month in Nigeria.
The Rev. Dr. William M. Campbell Jr., senior pastor of the Killeen church, said his church joined nearly 8,000 African Methodist Episcopal churches globally, who read “Bring Back Our Girls: A Litany for Mothers Day 2014” during their Sunday services.
He said the goal of the litany was for the world to rally, pray, vent and give voice to the kidnapped girls, who are mothers, sisters and daughters that may be sold into slavery.
“Human rights violated anywhere is a violation of human rights everywhere,” Campbell said. “You can’t live in a global community and see others around you suffering and have resources and not be willing to respond to that pain.”
For about a month, the president of Nigeria refused international help to search for more than 300 girls who were abducted from a school by Islamic extremists.
Last week, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan finally accepted help from the U.S., Britain, France and China.
Sarah Lawan, a 19-year-old science student, was among 53 of the abducted students who escaped. On Sunday, she said the kidnapping was “too terrifying for words,” and she is now scared to go back to school.
Nigeria’s homegrown Boko Haram terrorist network is threatening to sell the girls who remain in captivity into slavery.
“I am pained that my other colleagues could not summon the courage to run away with me,” Lawan said. “Now I cry each time I come across their parents and see how they weep when they see me.”
Campbell said wherever there is captivity of any type, whether it’s emotionally, spiritually, educationally, economically, socially or racially, he wants the world to unite and work toward liberation and reconciliation.
Source: Killeen Daily Herald | Sarah Rafique
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