Tag: long arc of history

MLK Day 2021

I wrote (and spoke) this several years ago, but thought it might be worth revisiting today.

Last night I was privileged to attend the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Banquet hosted by Antioch Baptist Church. At the end of the evening I was asked to give the Benediction. Here it is.

As we depart,
Both individually and collectively
Be who you are called to be.
In any and in all the ways you can
Seek justice.
Resist evil.
Stand strong against Death.
And all Death’s works and wiles.
Add your voice.
Move your feet.
Extend your hands.
And because it just might
Hold on to that long arc of history like your lives depend on it.
And pull
With as little or as much strength as you have
So that together we might help it continue to bend in the direction of justice.
And of peace.
And of hope.
And of promise.
For you and for me.
For us and for them.
For all of the children of God.

So, having been nourished by this evening’s gathering
Its words and its witness.
Go now and be Peace.

Amen.

Caught Not Taught

This Sunday, we will celebrate the Confirmation of seven young men who have been a part of our congregation’s Confirmation program this year. They will stand in our midst. They will share their Statements of Faith, a snapshot at 14 or 15 years old of what they think and understand and believe about God and what it means to follow Jesus. And, as a congregation, we will gather around them, both literally and figuratively, knowing that the promises we made when they were baptized are not yet fulfilled.

I have led Confirmation classes and programs for forty years.
It is still something of a mystery and challenge of how to help young adults make room in their lives and thinking for that which we know and name as God and to ask and explore the question of what it means to listen to the words of a person who lived 2000+ years ago. And, to let those words reshape your life.

I don’t remember where I first heard it, but I think it is true.
Faith is caught not taught.
So my hope is that somehow in those hundreds of conversations over all those years I have been contagious. That something of my own life and faith, something of my own questions and searching, something of my own sense of the Holy and efforts to follow Jesus has rubbed off.

So, to those who are being confirmed on Sunday.
Go with God.
And, may your strength and vision be added to mine as we do our best to bend that long arc of history in the direction of justice and do our part of help God’s Kingdom come a bit closer for us and for all.

Remembering the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I was asked to do the Invocation at MLK dinner which was held last Friday evening.
And instead of closing our eyes and bowing our heads, I asked those who were there to pray with their eyes wide open and their heads held high so we could pray seeing each other and looking beyond the walls of the room where we were gathered out onto the world God has entrusted to our care and keeping.

O God,
As we gather this evening to remember and to honor the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. challenge us to remember not just with our hearts, but also with our hands.
And, not just with our words, but also with our works.
For if we remember just with our hearts or just with our words
We will have fallen well short of that dream.
The dream Dr. King saw so clearly and gave his life to.
A dream meant not just for you and me.
But for all God’s children.

And, help us remember, too, O God, that our gathering this evening is not just about yesterday, but also about tomorrow. For we, too, are called to dream dreams and to see visions. We, too, are called to walk, each day, in the direction of justice even when that walking is hard. We, too, are called to stand, side by side, with those who have been forgotten and, those whose voices have been silenced.

Be with us and among us this evening we pray, O God.
Be with us in the fellowship we share.
Be among us in the words we hear and the songs we sing.
That our hope might be renewed and our spirits strengthened
So, when it is our turn (and it is our turn now!)
In whatever we are able…
And with whatever strength we have
We grab hold of that long arc of history
And hold on for dear life
And pull for all we are worth.

Amen.

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Several things I believe: