In exuberant services that drew political titans and the poor, thousands of worshippers turned out Sunday to bid farewell to the Rev. Cecil L. "Chip" Murray, senior pastor of First AME Church, after 27 years in the pulpit of one of the most important black churches in Los Angeles.
An estimated 11,000 people crammed into three services to send off Murray, who is retiring at 75 after transforming the church from a small, low-key congregation to a religious and civic powerhouse that has steered its community through the Los Angeles riots, gang warfare, police brutality and the AIDS crisis.
With a motto of "Prayers With Feet," Murray has exhorted his congregation to go beyond Bible studies and reach out to build 2,000 units of low-income housing, provide thousands of jobs, expand neighborhood food programs and educate young people through college scholarships and its own elementary school.
Murray said his departure would not change the church's activist direction. "Especially the black church ... must be a servant church or we are in default," he said in emphatic remarks to reporters after the services. "The church must reach beyond its walls. It must have more than prayer, more than worship. The word must become flesh."
Murray's extraordinary reach was exemplified by two visitors who shared the pulpit with him Sunday: former Gov. Gray Davis, who declared Murray to be the city's "most powerful voice for justice," and a bearded, homeless man whom the preacher invited to step forward for an embrace and words of encouragement.
The preacher shed no tears over his farewell, and chose not to speak about himself at all during his farewell sermons. Instead, in high-octane performances of stomping feet and sweaty brow, he pounded on his social gospel to the very end.
Ticking off figures on how much blacks spend on Cadillacs, movie tickets, cosmetics and the like, Murray exhorted the crowd to stand against arrogance and share their wealth with needy neighbors.
"What you do with what you have reflects who you are," he said. "If you can eat a full meal in front of a hungry person, you ain't got no religion."
Murray shared his personal feelings later, saying he was thrilled that his church is now so organized that it would carry on its mission without faltering.
Murray's successor is expected to be announced today in St. Louis by the Right Rev. John R. Bryant, the African Methodist Episcopal Church bishop who oversees states west of the Mississippi.
