Bells began to toll about 6 p.m. Thursday at Oak Lawn United Methodist Church. For an hour and a half, they rang, 600 bells in recognition of the 600th execution by the state of Texas since the reestablishment of the death penalty in 1976.
Edward Busby was put to death at 8:11 p.m. for the 2004 abduction and murder of Laura Lee Crane, a Fort Worth mother and former education professor. The milestone execution was delayed by an appeal to the Supreme Court and his clemency petition.
Prior to the event, Rev. Ryan Wager told The Dallas Morning News what this event meant to Oak Lawn United Methodist Church’s congregation. He said the church aims to stand up for justice and share a message of God’s love, illustrating to the larger community, “death is not the answer, that the gospel teaches God’s love and ability to reconcile and not to judge someone by one specific event outweighs ending a cycle of violence with violence.”
Wager said since the April 30 execution of James Broadnax, the death penalty has weighed on the hearts of the church’s community. In search of a way to “speak love more clearly,” leaders settled upon this event. The bells were chosen because they would be heard throughout Oak Lawn.
As the bells rang, roughly 20 congregants and church leaders sat silently in the chapel. The front doors were opened so the bells could be heard, though the sound remained faint.
The chatter of three small children playing in the corner cut through the faint ringing. Congregants, most of whom sat alone in pews, bowed their heads with their eyes closed. Some wiped tears from their eyes.
Rev. Rachel Griffin-Allison kneeled at the communion rail in prayer as the bells rang.
She later told The News the service marked an “important way for the community to stand for the sacredness of every human life. She added, “no one is defined by their worst moment.”
When the bells paused for the 6:30 p.m. prayer service, a piano’s notes immediately filled the space.
In a video message to congregants, Texas U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico thanked the church for organizing the event, which he called a “reminder of our shared humanity” in light of a “somber milestone” for the state of Texas.
He expressed hope for a Texas guided by dignity, humanity and community.
The first reading of the prayer service was shared in Spanish. The Church’s American Sign Language interpreter assisted throughout the readings and hymns.
“Tonight, we gather in the shadow of a number,” Wager said to open his reflection.
He spoke to the United Methodist Church’s social commitments, one of which is to honor the inherent worth and dignity of all people.
“Tonight, the bells ring, not for spectacle, not for celebration, but as a witness,” he said. The bells, he added, serve as a reminder that “Death should never become ordinary.”
Griffin-Allison and congregant Bette Ortega closed the service by reading the social creed of the United Methodist Church in both English and Spanish.