A Day In The Life… Hands On, Health Kits!
March 16, 2012
In the midst of “Celebrate Life!,” we are also celebrating “One Great Hour of Sharing.” I’m going to posit that this is a fitting match – the joyous gospel sung and lived out in a concrete, life-changing way.
You may know the story of the One Great Hour of Sharing offering. This offering from United Methodists around the world underwrites the work of The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), year by year by year. Yes, I marvel that we continue to value to such a degree the work of relief, recovery, and rebuilding.
On the bulletin board outside my office door, in that great montage of all things missional, is a magazine cover photo shot immediately after Hurricane Katrina. Overlaying a shell of a church, the caption says it all, “In it for the long haul.” Our church and Wesley Foundation, along with hundreds of other of our churches, have been trekking down to the Gulf Coast ever since. FEMA, the federal relief agency, had turned over much of the work to UMCOR, because of our experience, expertise and downright willingness to keep on working.
Katrina was not the first of our involvements, even Hugo was not the first – 20 years ago. How well we remember the unwelcome visits of Fran and Floyd and now Irene. And how proud we are that both our Fairmont and Wesley Foundation teams will be working this summer to help our neighbors recover. As we gave traveled far to help, so now others are traveling far to help us here.
Besides the teams, UMCOR response specializes in flood buckets, school kits, and… well, just read this, from the Rev. Jo Elaine Harris, Raleigh District Missions Pastor:
“We are in desperate need of health kits. I am asking our churches to assemble some (ingredients below). If you cannot assemble the kits, I would ask that you purchase the ingredients and I can locate folk to assemble them. Either way, when you have the goods, would you please take them to our Goodwill Warehouse located at 4808 Chin Page Road in Durham. It is just a mile off I-40/Miami exit. Prior to going, please contact Becky to inform her you are coming with deliveries. Her contact information: blytle@goodwillenc.org or 919-281-9192.
“Please put the new, following ingredients in a gallon-sized zip loc bag.
· 1 hand towel (15″ x 25″ up to 17″ x 27″)
· 1 washcloth
· 1 comb (large and sturdy, not pocket-sized)
· 1 nail file or fingernail clippers (no emery boards or toenail clippers)
· 1 bath-size bar of soap (3 oz. and up)
· 1 toothbrush (single brushes only in original wrapper, not child-size)
· 1 large tube of toothpaste (4.5 oz or larger)
· 6 adhesive plastic strip sterile bandages
“We also are in need of diapers and women’s feminine products. These are to be delivered to the same address.
“Thanking you in advance.”
Jo Elaine
May we begin to gather an offering of these items, that Jo Elaine’s thanks will be well founded?!
Pastor Steve
A Day in the Life… Celebrate Life!
March 8, 2012
Ah, the 1970’s. Some of you will remember those halcyon days. OK, I wanted to use “halcyon” in a sentence, even if those days were not all that halcyon… reminds me of the bumper sticker that says, “Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.” Think about it…
If music is a marker of cultural movements, that applies to more than just music made popular by famous singers, movies, MTV, or its internet successor. At its heart, vocal music is a story telling device, which story telling is integral to the proclamation of the gospel. In the 1960’s and 1970’s, there was a clear shift in how to tell that story in a new way, which to some was a radical new way. The period that gave us Jesus Christ Superstar and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (well known to Fairmont folk!) gave rise to a number of accessible treatments of Christian Faith. Burly Red and Ragan Courtney had this to say about their work in Celebrate Life!
“The music of Celebrate Life! was conceived with the hope that all age groups from junior high through adult would enjoy singing it.” Great! We’re going to do that on Sunday, March 18, during morning worship. Read on:
“Celebrate Life! tells the story of Jesus in simple, dramatic terms. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John share their faith and some of their experiences. The tone is warm, intimate, and worshipful…. It is hoped that the message and music of Celebrate Life! will communicate to young and old alike in a way that will permit all persons to celebrate together the life of Jesus Christ our Lord.”
But hey! you might say, isn’t it still Lent? So what’s with all the “celebrating?!” An excellent point. The church historically had observed and practiced Lent for forty days, the length of time that parallels Jesus’ time in the wilderness. But Sundays are not counted in that forty days. Why? Because we need a break from what could become a “relentless Lent?” I’m sure we could use the break, but the church has always regarded Sunday, even Sundays in Lent, as “little Easters.” So it is not necessary or even appropriate to be enveloped by Lent’s ponderous seriousness on Lent’s Sundays. Easter is not only coming, but on Sundays, we claim that it has already arrived!
Most will remember that’s why we worship on Sunday, in honor of that first day of the week when the friends of Jesus found his tomb empty, and then began to see him, risen and alive again. Sunday worship in no way demeans the Sabbath from which we come, the seventh day (Saturday) on which our biblical forebears worshiped, remembering that on the seventh day, God rested. Talk about needing a break – creating the world must have been hard work.
So this is an unabashed invitation, verily I say, a clarion call for everyone to be in morning worship on Sunday, March 18, to, yes, Celebrate Life! Can I count on you being here?
Pastor Steve
A Day In The Life… Planning Ahead?
March 2, 2012
In lo, these 37 years as a pastor, one of the things I’ve learned is that people actually do plan ahead. That might come to you as a surprise, and the way I learned that may also. It has to do with “snow in the forecast.” At the first hint of wintry precipitation, people “plan” to do two things:
1) Hurry to the grocery store for milk, bread and eggs (apparently French toast is very big during snowstorms);
2) Nothing.
It’s that second activity that has me thinking. While forecasts of snow are notoriously “off,” as in, “yep, that was a close one – Danville got an inch,” we are careful to follow through on plan 2). If we’ve planned to stay home, then we will most likely follow through. OK, Steve, where are you going with this?
It all started in an article from The Christian Century.* Eric Wilson wrote about going to a modern Passion play, The Thorn, being performed at a South Carolina “classic evangelical megachurch, as much sports arena as place of worship.” Not terribly flattering, was he? His tale of being there is filled with critique, especially in its overdone violence, which he compared to that in Mel Gibson’s film, The Passion of Christ. Readily building his case against the play’s “lurid sensationalism” (like a train wreck, we can’t look away), Wilson was surprised to be deeply touched by the climactic moments of the story:
“Exploitative or not, the episode moved me. I had never seen pain performed so intensely, and the agony gripped me, jerked me toward empathy: I imagined as palpably as I could what it would feel like…”
Holy Week is coming, now a mere four Sundays away. You would expect me to be planning ahead for it, wouldn’t you? That article has me thinking about the way the rest of our congregation is also planning ahead – to mostly not come to the Maundy Thursday service, and not come to the Good Friday service.
Why is that, spring break notwithstanding? On Palm Sunday, we do pretty well. It’s at least a glass half full, right? The procession with palms is always great fun, the music uplifting, and even the serious Passion message and music points to the joy to come.
“On the night he was betrayed,” Thursday, and on Friday, a mere day later, he says, “It is finished,” and he bows his head and gives up his spirit. And so I wonder: are we worried that those momentous agonies will grip us, jerk us toward empathy, take our imaginations where we’d rather they not go?
I’ve been to one Passion play, nothing like Wilson describes. I guess mine was a more user-friendly, even sanitized version. Our Holy Week services are neither exploitative or violent. What they are is scriptural, entirely so, filled with grace and meaning. How will we ever experience that richness without taking part? And without planning ahead, right now, to be here? See you in church?
Pastor Steve
* Eric G. Wilson, February 22, 2012, pp 10-11.
A Day In The Life… We Gather Together?
February 24, 2012
The old hymn, sung usually at Thanksgiving, says,
We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing,
He chastens and hastens to make his will known.*
Like a lot of other things, some do, some don’t.** Central to our life as Christian people is gathering together to ask the Lord’s blessing, praying that God will make known the Divine will. In recent years, we have attained a certain rhythm that includes gathering in homes. Just like on Sundays,*** some do, some don’t.
Today, we begin scheduling the Lenten “home meetings.” The lovely Fairmont tradition, clipboards, is much in evidence – and not just today, but throughout this season. I cannot urge you enough to sign up, but I shall try!
We stand midstream in the Wesleyan tradition called “holy conferencing.” John Wesley felt that where two or more were speaking together of matters of the heart, the Holy Spirit was present, awakening wisdom that would remain asleep were the Spirit not present. Such conversation, or conferencing, is one of Wesley’s several “means of grace,” those spiritual disciplines that draw us ever closer to God. What follows is from our United Methodist Board of Global Ministries website (specifically, www.uccmn.org//Holy%20Conferencing.pdf), printed there as General Conference approaches, a time for weighing weighty matters!
“Holy Conferencing” is an early principle set forth by John Wesley, the 18th century British founder of Methodism. Wesley believed that “holy conferencing” — Christians conferring together for the sake of peace and truth seeking — was a “means of grace,” even as are Bible reading, prayer, and the sacraments.
We believe the Holy Spirit leads in all things, especially as we make decisions,” says a postscript to the guidelines’ ten points. “We want to avoid making decisions in a fashion that leaves some feeling like winners and others like losers. We can change the world through honest conversation on matters about which we are passionate.
The (Wesley’s) guidelines began with five verses from the New Testament book of Colossians (3:12-16a, 17). The passage admonishes Christians to clothe themselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, and continues: “bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other, just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must love. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”
Not only is it the season of Lent, but it is a season of transition for the church we love. This is a key time, a critical time, an opportune time for us to gather together for some “holy conferencing.” Can I count on you to take part? Great!
Pastor Steve
* Nederlandstch Gedenckclank, 1626, Translate by Theodore Baker, 1894; The United Methodist Hymnal, Abingdon, Nashville, TN, 1989, no. 131.
** As hitchhikers say, “Thumb do, thumb don’t.” I digress…
** The text from Hebrews is instructive, “And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another…” (Hebrews 10:24-25)
A Day In The Life… What’s the diff?
February 17, 2012
We bring canned goods and household products. During communion, we make an offering, remembering the poor. In Wesleyan fashion, we seek to “do good.” Then comes that tiny query, softly creeping through our minds: “What’s the difference? What I share is so small and the problem is so large…”
This week, the church received a marvelous Valentine. It came from Urban Ministries – they said they LOVE us! Why? The good folks at Urban Ministries of Wake County are under the impression that our gifts do make a difference – and a very positive one at that. So it seems good to share their card’s three stories.
“I never imagined that I would be in this situation. I was a helper, now I need help. Urban Ministries gave me groceries to get me through a rough time.”
– Felicia, a former Food Pantry donor who was laid off. She
represents one of the 8,000 families, including 9,000 children,
served in the Food Pantry last year.
“At the Helen Wright Center (For Women), I was able to have a safe place to stay, meals, and support to help me get back on my feet again.”
– Brenda, one of the 314 women served at the Center last year.
“I had my very first appointment [at the Open Door Clinic] today. And, I want to say thank you. You guys really surprised me. You didn’t just give me prescriptions that I needed to go get filled somewhere else; you gave me the medications that I needed. God bless you all, and thank you very much.
– Dorothy, Open Door Clinic patient. 49,000 prescriptions
were provided at no charge last year.
Felicia, Brenda and Dorothy are not mere statistics, but real people with real crises – getting real help. We, with concerned congregations and citizens across Wake County, are the ones who make tangible that help.
Think about it when you’re grocery shopping – can I buy an extra item or two and share it with Felicia? The food pantry shares four to five tons of food each week of the year – with people like Felicia.
Think about it when you drive by the train station on Cabarrus – across the street is the Helen Wright Center for Women, named for Urban Ministries’ founding director, Sister Helen Wright. Brenda and 313 more found new life last year – right there.
Think about it when you go to your family doctor, then stop at your favorite pharmacy – Dorothy couldn’t do that, but she could walk through the clinic’s “open door.”
In the parable of the Last Judgment (Matthew 25), Jesus spoke of the feeding of hungry people, the welcoming of strangers, the healing of sick folks, “the least of these who are members of my family,” as doing those things also “to” him. Thanks be to God for Urban Ministries, through whom we also serve Jesus.
Pastor Steve
A Day in the Life… St. Valentine?
February 10, 2012
With all the stir about Valentine’s Day, which now is offered as the commercial season between Christmas and Easter (chocolate anyone?), I have yet to hear any discussion about Saint Valentine. Reckon what happened to him? Wait – what’s this? There are two! No, three! Or if you believe reu.org/public/saints/Valentin, make it eight! A quick review cedes consensus that things ended, uh, painfully – for all of them.
St. Valentine of Ravenna (4th century, not much information), St. Valentine of Rhaetia (a missionary bishop, 5th century), and later a pope and assorted bishops adopted his name.
The best candidate seems to be the 3rd century priest of Rome who was arrested by Emperor Claudius “the Goth.” Valentine confessed his faith before the him and said that the emperor’s gods, Jupiter and Mercury, were shameless and contemptible characters, “full of ordure and evil.” (ordure: let’s just say “waste,” okay?) He also said, “Jesu Christ is only very God, and if thou believe in him, verily thy soul shall be saved, thy realm shall multiply, and he shall give to thee alway victory of thine enemies” (archaic, as are quotes below). One source says that Valentine was quite convincing, causing the emperor to turn to the assembled court, including his own “house” priests, and pointed to Valentine’s great wisdom. There was an outcry that the emperor had been duped, and the ol’ politician knuckled under (surprise) and turned him over to the “provost.”
While imprisoned at the provost’s house, this is said to have been Valentine’s prayer: Lord Jesu Christ very God, which art very light, enlumine this house in such wise that they that dwell therein may know thee to be very God. And the provost said: I marvel me that thou sayest that thy God is very light, and nevertheless, if he may make my daughter to hear and see, which long time hath been blind, I shall do all that thou commandest me, and shall believe in thy God.
Furthermore, Saint Valentine anon (shortly) put him in prayers, and by his prayers the daughter of the provost received again her sight, and anon all they of the house were converted. After, the emperor did do smite off the head of Saint Valentine, the year of our Lord two hundred and eighty.
So you’re asking, “How in the world does he become associated with our style of Valentine’s Day?” Good question! The best we have is another legend that on the eve of his execution, he wrote a letter (ok, a card) to the young woman who had been healed. From their, Chaucer gets involved, and there you go. Pope Paul VI (1969) must have been cleaning house with the ol’ saints calendar, because that’s when it was summarily removed from the sacred celebrations.
So what? you say. Good point! I probably should have an incredible clincher, but hey – we shared the story of the most likely St. Valentine, his impassioned faith, his defense of the faith, his courage before the emperor, and his willingness to pay the price for it all. That seems worth remembering on February 14, 2012.
Pastor Steve Hickle
A Day In The Life… Black History Month
February 3, 2012
This month in the world of baseball, pitchers and catchers will report for “spring training.” Think of that! While clergy are cautioned against using sports illustrations (some foolishness about it not being a universal experience), baseball is just a part of me… since it was my Dad’s as well, it must be genetic. I not only grew up on baseball as it happened but on the stories of those who had gone before, like Lou Gehrig, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson and Satchel Paige. Oh, Satchel! His rules for living are legendary: things like don’t eat fried foods, they angry up the blood; don’t run anywhere; don’t look back, something might be gaining on you. The book was called, “Maybe I’ll Pitch Forever,” and he nearly did, well into his 50’s. That’s truly ancient for a major leaguer.
Even though I was reading about life in the Negro Leagues, and even though I sensed the underlying injustice that kept that separateness and inequality in place, I didn’t grasp that I was reading “black history.” If you think about it, that’s an odd way to read black history, kind of unknowingly, digging out the baseball stories, and in the midst of that saying, “You know, these guys could have played anywhere!” Their names were even compelling: Cool Papa Bell, Goose Tatum, Josh Gibson.
Until the history of African slaves and their offspring is fully a part of the American story, we need Black History Month. I am so grateful that Fairmont can claim to be the rehearsal home of the Martin Luther King, Jr, All Children’s Choir. And I am grateful that there is wonderful diversity at Sunday Night LIVE!, as well is throughout the many groups that gather in this place. Sunday morning? That’s still a work in progress.
Here’s today’s “Didja know?” In our own Methodist family tree, there are several black Wesleyan denominations. The African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) has roots in 1816 Philadelphia, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (AME Zion) in 1821 (and before) New York. Both formed as discrimination became intolerable for them. In 1870, a Methodist Church divided over slavery since 1844 encouraged the formation of the Colored (now Christian) Methodist Episcopal Church (CME). I reckon at that point it was the easier path.
One more. When the northern and southern “branches” of our church reunited in 1939, along with the Methodist Protestant Church (another story!), they made a provision for a “Central Jurisdiction,” keeping some separateness in place. It was devastating to the African American part of our family, who had come together in such high hopes of becoming one. Those that did not become CME churches were part of the northern branch. You might know that Wilson Temple United Methodist was one such, a mere 8/10 of a mile from us on Oberlin Road.
In 1968, the Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren churches merged to become United Methodists. A part of that event was the dissolution of the Central Jurisdiction. I grew up with EUBs, fine folks, so imagine my surprise when in 1975 I moved to a county not far away and found a seething anger about the 1968 merger. Do what? I learned that some (and it was only some) had
not read about Satchel Paige, nor did they care to. That might have helped.
Pastor Steve
A Day in the Life… Musical Diversity
January 27, 2012
“Live from Fairmont – the one and only Fairmont Gospel Revue!” Many’s the time we have heard that said. Oh – you haven’t? If you show up tonight, you’ll have a priceless initiation into an integral part of Fairmont’s musical life. Who could have imagined in the fall of 1997, when we first pulled together some of our interested (and interesting?) musicians, that the project would have legs? And keep walking into the middle teen years? 14?
Unless you just came in, you know that music to be our own brand of “gospel jazz.” Drawing on the rich tradition of R & B, which has its roots in the church, our gang has arranged spirituals, classics, hymns, and rock and roll to give them all a gospel-jazz feel – in an array of styles. While a core of musicians has remained from the beginning, we have been enormously blessed to make music with a sampling of the finest musicians from Fairmont and the wider community.
It might not have happened, had our church not already had a “bent” toward what I’m calling “musical diversity.” That may be most evident in our choir, made up of singers who faithfully rehearse and lead us Sunday by Sunday. We’re blessed with the longevity of several, including our organist, Dayle Welch and our director of music, Eric Grush. Week by week, the choir shows the deep and wide range of music that has inhabited the choral camp – for centuries. The addition of instruments is another way to make that oh, so biblical “joyful noise” (Psalm 100:1 – you can look it up!).
Our young people, from children through youth and college, also lead us with music in worship settings ranging from Sunday mornings to the special programs that frame the seasons. Who would suspect that so much humor (joy?) could be found in music?
Psalm 150 names a number of the instruments of King David’s day: trumpet (of course), lute and harp, tambourine, strings and pipe, cymbals – the really loud ones! Throw in some “dance” and you’ve got a Psalm 150-style celebration, where “everything that breathes praise(s) the Lord!”
We’ve added even more instrument (although there should be a Hebrew word for trombone). Our hand bell choir continues to ring in the good news, season by season. Their recent journey to Durham for a nine-choir workshop is another step in their remarkable development. People! This is good stuff! Add in our young people using hand-chimes and there’s a kind of all-age, all-instrument, all-style continuum across the musical spectrum.
That’s a spectrum which includes all the people. Yes, we get to sing, don’t we? It’s our heritage as the people called “Methodists.” There was a time, a great time, when we were known as “the singing Methodists.” John and Charles Wesley made it so. Charles wrote over 6500 hymns, of which we still have a double handful – alas, we don’t have any of his usual 16-20 stanza hymns currently in use! Man was a poet without end…
We sing what we believe. That’s one reason “new” hymns give us pause. Without even thinking about it, we may be asking, what’s this saying? Do I believe it? Then there are those pesky tunes, but no matter. In Wesley’s instructions for singing (on page vii of our hymnal), “Learn these tunes before you learn any others; afterwards learn as many as you please.” Reckon how Mr. Wesley would feel about an “other” called “Jesus Is The Rock and He Rolls My Blues Away” ??
Pastor Steve
A Day in the Life… Haiti 2.0
January 20, 2012
A letter from UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) begins this way:
There are moments in the life of a nation when a single event charges in with such force that people long afterward point to the day, the hour, even the minute when their lives changed radically. For the people of Haiti, that event was the earthquake that toppled Port au Prince, the capital, on January 12, 2010, at 4:53 in the afternoon.
For many of us, it’s 8:46 am on September 11, 2001, or 7:48 am, December 7, 1941, events simply known now as “9/11” and “Pearl Harbor.” The summary devastation of two years ago certainly finds its place in that company, while in terms of casualties and deaths far surpasses them both. The number is still disputed, but generally is thought to be between 158,000 and 230,00. So yes, in the midst of such death, life has changed for Haitians.
Did you know that there are around 12,000 “Non-Governmental Organizations” (NGOs) at work in Haiti? How in the world can such a vast array of philosophies, practices and beliefs come together in cooperation?!
In the midst of that, it is worth our reflection on one of the best of the NGOs, our very own UMCOR. “We” were in Haiti long before the earthquake, in fact UMCOR’s director and other agency personnel were there when the quake struck. It kind of “came home” when NC’s own Sam Dixon, then leading UMCOR, with Clinton Raab died in the rubble of a hotel – while their friend Jim Gulley survived. A letter from The Rev. Cynthia Fierro Harvey (UMCOR Deputy General Secretary) says,
Jim emerged with his life and a commitment to walk with the Haitian survivors, which he does to this day with UMCOR. Let me continue with her thoughts.
During those first crucial months, UMCOR addressed widespread emergencies, distributing food, water, and shelter assistance to hundred of thousands of beneficiaries. We conducted needs assessments and began to devise immediate and long-term relief and recovery plans in coordination with other international agencies and our chief partner, Eglise Methodiste d’Haiti (Methodist Church of Haiti, EMH).
In the early recovery phase, which continues today, UMCOR’s work has b been facilitated by our strong connections forged over decades of service in Haiti. Together with our partners, UMCOR is advancing work in the fields of education, health and hygiene, shelter and reconstruction, livelihoods, and capacity strengthening. Our regular monitoring and evaluation of UMCOR programs allow us to build on pilot projects, identify and address challenges, an improve our methods and results.
- Providing shelters for families
- Creating education opportunities and rebuilding schools and classrooms
- Increasing access to community-based health and hygiene services
- Improving livelihoods and household income, and
- Rebuilding capacity for sustainable development.
I’m guessing you didn’t know you had been doing all that! Yes, we are part of UMCOR, in the same way we are part of the United Methodist Church: through our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service, our witness.
There’s a booklet with fuller information on the table by the parlor. Come and see!
Pastor Steve
A Day In The Life… What’s in a holiday?
January 13, 2012
The dictionary* has as its first word on holiday, “holy day.” It goes on to describe the suspension of work and some act of commemoration. As to the day marking the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., most would agree that we have a “holiday.” Where is the disagreement? I’m guessing it’s in the “holy” part of holiday.
Every day could be seen as holy. How many times have we begun worship with
This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!
But to speak of a particular day beyond every day as holy is to put it and its honoree under the microscope.
I’ve just been in Washington, DC, and for the first time, I’ve seen the memorial built to honor Dr. King. I wish there had been time for more than a drive by viewing, but even that was enough to sense its significance. Aligned with the memorials for Jefferson and Lincoln, the position of the three is beginning to be known as “The line of leadership.” The statue is massive, in bold relief, quite different from the other two memorials.
So how holy was he? I don’t think that’s the point, even though signs pointed to the hand of God upon him—from the early days. I began seminary four years after his assassination. Some fifteen years earlier, there had been quite a stir there at Garrett when King, answering God’s call for further study, visited our school. He would land at Boston to study there, but the power of that story, an “almost,” speaks of his charisma. And yes, that Methodist seminary would have welcomed a Baptist, renowned or not!
The memorial could be in Selma or Birmingham or Atlanta or Memphis, and indeed, in each place there are concrete remembrances. But it was in Washington, DC, that Dr. King marched, and spoke amid that mass of people of simply cashing a check—a promissory note written to all people in the very founding documents of our land:
So we have come to cash this check—a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.
The voice of a preacher, a prophet, one touched by the very Spirit of God. As it is a challenge to find biblical characters who are without flaws, the same could be said for the very presidents we honor in February (Washington and Lincoln).
Tonight, we get to hear the fabulous choir, now in year 26, founded upon and developed to honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is worth our time to be here, and to reflect on what it all means for the sake of justice.
Pastor Steve
* Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition, Merriam-Webster, Inc., Springfield, MA, 2003, p. 593