Today’s Word from Pastor Jim…
On March 7th, 1965, in Selma, Alabama there was a peaceful march to secure voting rights for African Americans. Among the organizers were Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis. On this day some 600 marchers would be violently confronted by Alabama State Troopers and vigilantes armed with clubs. Hundreds of non-violent protesters were injured that day, and youth leader Jimmie Lee Jackson was killed as he sought to protect his mother and grandfather from attack.
In response President Lyndon B. Johnson addressed a joint session of Congress on March 15th, 1965. In a speech that ranks among the greatest in US history, President Johnson sought to rally the country and Congress to the cause of freedom and justice for all and to embrace the seemingly forgotten ideals of our founding fathers. The events in Selma on that Bloody Sunday revealed a cancerous rot that threatened all Americans.
As our nation again experiences violence and oppression, I want to share just a small portion of a very long speech. President Johnson said, “the time for waiting is gone,” and then he continued:
“Their cause must be our cause, too. Because it is not just Negroes, but really, it’s all of us who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice.
And we shall overcome. As a man whose roots go deeply into Southern soil, I know how agonizing racial feelings are. I know how difficult it is to reshape the attitudes and the structure of our society. But a century has passed, more than a hundred years, since the Negro was freed. And he is not fully free tonight. It was more than a hundred years ago that Abraham Lincoln, a great president of another party, signed the Emancipation Proclamation, but emancipation is a proclamation and not a fact. A century has passed, more than a hundred years, since equality was promised. And yet the Negro is not equal.
A century has passed since the day of promise. And the promise is unkept.
The time of justice has now come. I tell you that I believe sincerely that no force can hold it back. It is right in the eyes of man and God that it should come. And when it does, I think that day will brighten the lives of every American.”
Ten days later on March 25, 1965, on the steps of the Alabama State Capitol, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said:
”I know you are asking today, how long will it take?….
I come to say to you this afternoon, however difficult the moment, however frustrating the hour, it will not be long, because truth crushed to earth will rise again.
How long? Not long, because no lie can live forever.
How long? Not long, because you shall reap what you sow….
How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
In these anxious, trying times, when the principles of freedom and justice are again in question it is imperative that Christians return to the foundational truths of our faith. The teachings of Jesus should be our guide. When Jesus was asked which commandment was the most important, he answered saying:
“’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31
And 700 years before the birth of Jesus, God spoke through the Prophet Micah:
“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercyand to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8
May we stand for the principles that we hold dear as citizens and Christians; justice, freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, democracy, love of neighbor, the rule of law and the self-evident truth that all the children of God are created equal. We shall overcome!
One beggar telling another beggar where to find bread,
I am your,
Pastor Jim
President Johnson’s speech can be easily read in its entirety at https://voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu/johnson-we-shall-overcome-speech-text/
