More than 650 people filled St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Mountain Brook today to mourn those killed and pray for their families after a shooting at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church on Thursday night.
Bishop Glenda Curry, head of the Episcopal Diocese, led the service and gave a somber sermon.
“I sure do love y’all,” she said.
She said she went to the scene of the shooting Thursday night, where three people were gunned down, and was at a loss for words after learning three church members had been shot.
“Silence is really God’s lap,” she said. “He will hold us and heal us.”
Here is complete coverage of the St. Stephen’s church shooting
The congregation recited Psalm 23 and the Lord’s prayer and sang hymns.
“God is with us,” Curry said. “Only God’s love will heal us like we need to be healed.”
Some members of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church were in attendance.
“We need to lament and mourn together,” Curry said. “Right now, Jesus is weeping with us and hurting with us.”
After the service, the Rev. Doug Carpenter, who founded St. Stephen’s and was rector from 1973-2005, praised the actions of church member Jim Musgrove, who stopped the shooter by hitting him with a chair and taking away the gun.
“He’s a real hero,” Carpenter said.
Three people died: Walter “Bart” Rainey, 84, of Irondale; Sarah Yeager, 75, of Pelham; and Jane Pounds, 84, of Hoover.
The Rev. Doug Carpenter, who was rector of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church from 1973-2005 and was the founding priest, attended a prayer service on June 17, 2022, at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Mountain Brook the morning after a fatal shooting at St. Stephen's Church. (Photo by Greg Garrison/AL.com)
St. Stephen’s Senior Warden Michael Yancey said the shooter had attended at least one service at the church previously, but was not well known to the congregation.
“We’re clinging to the truth that love is the most powerful force in the world,” Yancey said.
On Saturday, Robert Findlay Smith, 70, was charged with capital murder in connection with the shooting.
Those in attendance at the prayer service included many from different faith groups and traditions.
“It’s not just Episcopalians,” said the Rev. Kelly Hudlow, a spokesperson for the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama.
“This didn’t just happen to us,” she said. “It happened to a whole community. There was a lot of love and support. We are very grateful for that.”
See also: St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church founder left with heartbreak, questions after deadly shooting