Did you send your children to bed with stories of freedom marches, Emmett Till and the ‘I Have A Dream’ speech dancing in their heads?
Hey! Us too!
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. It was also a day for a midwife appointment, St. Augustine’s feast day (and therefore Philip’s) and our annual school kick-off celebration. It meant that we didn’t get to the story of Dr. Martin Luther King until our way home from Hill City. The kids hauled themselves out of the car at home, donned jammies and then crowded onto our bed to watch the entirety of his great words on that day.
Did you know that the “I have a dream . . .’ portion makes up about 2 minutes of his 17 minute speech? Me neither. And while that’s beautiful and moving, the rest of his remarks are just . . . wow. My favorite section is the beautiful phrase – The fierce urgency of now.
Now. Urgency. Fierce.
It resonates in my deepest places. There is so much to be done in this moment. For this baby. For my kids. For our learning. For the Church. For our freedoms. We cannot be still, we cannot rest. NOW is the time to work, to act, to do.
I wish I wasn’t so tired.
Max headed to bed with the request that tomorrow we learn about something else. We could see it in his eyes – the storm that comes with new knowledge that is hard. We assured him we could and we will because that’s what he needs now. But we won’t turn away from Dr. King’s words either. There is much left to be done.
“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8
If you, like me, don’t know a lot about the Washington march beyond the very watered down version presented in text books, I suggest listening to Backstory with the American History Guys. The episode just so happens to be titled “The Fierce Urgency of Now.” It’s good stuff.
