WE SHALL OVERCOME [Su, 7-19-20]

CHRIST IN WINTER: Reflections on Faith & Life for the Days of Winter

WE SHALL OVERCOME       [Su, 7-19-20]

Congressman and Civil Rights titan, John Lewis, died Friday, July 16, at age 80. Although less well known, he may have been more important in the civil rights struggle even than MLK, Jr. Especially since he got to continue his respectful, kindly, Christ-like, non-violent but persistent advocacy as part of that struggle for equality for so long. In his years as an elected Congressman, he was often called “the conscience of Congress.”

When he spoke at Michigan State U, when our granddaughter was a student there, she stood in line to get his signature on his new book. As he signed, she told him that her grandfather had been part of the march from Selma into Montgomery in 1965.

He said, “Tell him ‘thank you’ for me.” I think it was the nicest thank-you I’ve ever had, all the more important because it came through my granddaughter. Her father, Patrick, posted a picture of her with Lewis on Facebook

Brigid has carried on the tradition, of advocating for equality and inclusion, a tradition that was carried on by her mother and…

…well, anyone who has chosen the side of equality, the side of non-violence, the side of persistence, the side of inclusion. Not all of us have been able to march, or serve in Congress, or write books. But we’ve all been able to choose which side we’re on.

That’s the first and last thing we do in life, simply choosing which side we’re on. I can’t march anymore. I don’t have a pulpit. I’m basically not even allowed out of the house. But I can choose which side I’m on, and I think that matters to God. I know it does to me.

We shall overcome some day…

John Robert McFarland