Hope for the Future

I rarely carry cash anymore, and so it may come as no surprise that I even more rarely carry change in my pockets.  A few days ago, however, I reached into my pocket and realized that I had a few coins.  Digging them out with the intention of putting them in my piggy bank, I looked at the quarter, just to see what new design was on it and I noticed the word HOPE across the back of the quarter.  As I looked closer, under the word HOPE, there was a name, The Reverend Dr. Pauli Murray.  For those who don’t know her, she was a phenomenal person, a legal scholar whose thesis helped establish the case for Thurgood Marshall and his team during the Brown vs. Board of Education case.  She was also an Episcopal priest and a progressive thinker who knew the love of God and knew that love in action was justice.  Seeing this quarter, I was touched because not only was this person an Episcopal priest, but the message associated with her was simple yet profound, HOPE!  

This past March, I had the privilege of travelling with the Texas Tech Canterbury group on their annual retreat/ pilgrimage.  I had been invited on the condition that I would drive and welcome a few students in my car.  Happy to do this, I had no idea what we were embarking upon, and what impact it would have on me, and I believe, the others.  

The trip started with a long drive from Lubbock to Little Rock, Arkansas.  After an overnight stay there, we then travelled to Memphis, Tennessee where we visited the Lorraine Motel, where the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, JR, had been assassinated so many years ago.  Being at that place, there can be no doubt that it is sacred ground, not just because of what took place there, but because it stands as a shrine for us today of hope and how to achieve change.  We visited the museum and were touched by the sights and sounds of the centuries old struggle for equality and freedom.  I was especially moved to see the stories, in art, in writing and in so many other ways, of those who had been a part of the work for so long.  There were tears and there was joy, and in all of it, there was a great understanding that the work started so long ago, continues today.  

Along the entire pilgrimage, there were reminders of the willingness of people to do what had to be done for the sake of freedom and equality not just for themselves, but for those coming after them.  We visited the sight of the Birmingham church bombing and were reminded that people of all ages can be a part of the work and that no matter what we do, together we are constructing a Beloved Community (ie: the Kingdom of Heaven)  that is different and hopefully better for our fellow human.  We also visited the sight where Episcopal seminarian Jonathan Daniels stood with great confidence in his life in Christ as he protected and ultimately saved the life of Ruby Sales, a young African American girl.  He took a direct hit from a shotgun and was killed.  Prior to his work in the South, he had stated that he was not afraid, because he knew that in Baptism, he had already died in Christ, and given new life in Him also.  

All along the way, I was touched to see the young men and women from Texas Tech Canterbury as they absorbed the various encounters our pilgrimage took us on.  For some, this was a bitter reminder of a past that they had not had to endure, for others, it served as a reminder of what love in action looks like, even to death.  Overall, I believe that each of us on that journey was changed in one way or another.  Each of us touched by the plethora of faces who had so willingly and lovingly been part of the journey, and those who still are.  

Toward the end of the trip, I was gifted with the opportunity to offer a simple reflection at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama.  There, only a few feet from where the Bloody Sunday events had taken place 59 years ago, I offered the members of our pilgrimage a blank note card.  It was meant to serve as a reminder that the story isn’t over.  Today, there are many for whom equality and justice are still not a reality.  Today, our very own brothers and sisters are being persecuted, trolled and even killed because of their own self expression or because of who they are.  Today, the journey is not over, but as we gathered at the foot of that bridge, standing only feet from where Martin Luther King, Jr. once stood, I was not afraid, because in the faces of those gathered, I saw hope.  Above all, as Episcopalians, we are bearers of hope.  Hope for those on the margins, hope for those forsaken, hope for those without a church home, hope for those who are cradle Episcopalians, and hope for the many generations to come.  As the pilgrimage came to a close, and as each of us gathered our things and went home, my heart was ablaze in the Light of Christ, because no matter what, there is hope and his name is Jesus.  

Remember, You are beautiful. You are loved.