Monday, March 2, 2015

Look at Selma Now: 50 Years Later

Look at Selma Today
A witness to what God is doing in Selma 50 years later
Reflections are based on sermon preached at St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Selma, Alabama-March 1, 2015
Click here for audio of Sermon
stpaulsselma.dioala.org
(pictures and new coverage at end of article)

 The events that took place in Selma 50 years ago not only changed our city but also changed the nation and even the world.  Ultimately, the events that transpired helped result in the passage of the Voting Rights Act.  Even more, the events that occurred here resulted in a democracy where all people could participate regardless of race or color.  While the nation was free to celebrate this victory, the city of Selma was mortally wounded.
Suddenly, a city that was a bright spot in Alabama became the red headed step child of the south, the nation, and even the world.  The images of Bloody Sunday have been repeated over and over and over again.  And every year Bloody Sunday is commemorated.  As many have said, will we ever move past the bridge?  When will we ever escape this one image of Selma?
Yesterday, the city of Selma gathered on the Montgomery side of the Edmund Pettus Bridge.  We gathered as a community—black, white, Hispanic, Jewish, Asian, Christian, atheist, agnostic, whatever.  We gathered as a people who are hungry to live by a new story.  We gathered in a faith that believes that God is doing something special in Selma.  And instead of marching to Montgomery in the name of Civil Rights, we marched into Selma in the name of One Selma and reclaimed this beautiful place as our home—Selma for Selma.  We celebrated our beautiful city.
(Some 2,000 residents attended the Unity Walk.  Photo Courtesy of Selma Times Journal)

 The banner that we carried in procession was a unity quilt that represents the rich diversity and beauty of Selma.  We received a total of 176 quilt squares for this quilt—squares representing our community, our churches, our businesses, our people, and our history. All of them are now sewn together as one to create a symbol of God’s plan for unity and reconciliation.
 My wife Jamie brought the quilt to the most recent planning meeting for the Unity Walk to show it to the group. The presentation of this quilt was met by a standing ovation by the diverse and beautiful people of our city who gathered at Brown Chapel on that Tuesday evening.  I hope you understand the impact of this moment.  This standing ovation is evidence that God is giving us a new story to celebrate.  
One of the leaders of the Unity Walk made the comment, “Look what Selma has done together.  Who would have ever imagined that Selma could do something like this?”  While her question was certainly a rhetorical one, the answer is most definitively God.  God is giving Selma a new story.    
I, along with many of you, have been whispering about all the wonderful things that God is doing with our community.  While we still have a long way to go to get to where we need to be, there are signs of new life with new businesses and new families and new initiatives.  Perhaps most significantly, these signs of new life are being seen through our faith community coming together.
For better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, the bridge was the cross we were called to bear.  Ultimately, we would not have the opportunity to be talking about this new story if not for all the things that our city has experienced over the last 50 years.  I’m not sure what Selma would look like today if Bloody Sunday didn’t happen.  Some say that our economy would not have suffered like it has, that we would be a thriving small town.  Others say that Bloody Sunday might have actually helped Selma stay relevant in a nation where small towns are dying. 
 I’m not sure either way.  I can’t answer these questions.  I’m not an economist or even a prophet.  As your priest, preacher, and pastor, I am interested in answering these questions.  What is the opportunity?  Why does God care if the city of Selma has a new story?  What does it matter that God is making Selma new?
I strongly believe that God is calling our city to be a witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  I believe God wants Selma to be a reminder of the new story we are given through the good news of Jesus Christ.  This is a great privilege and great responsibility.  And I believe a part of this witness happened on the bridge yesterday.
While our walk does not replace or minimize those horrible images that are seared into our nation’s consciousness, our walk gives us (and hopefully the nation) permission to live by a new story—a story beyond Blood Sunday.  Our walk gives us permission to celebrate the bridge, to look at the bridge in a new way.  We can look at the bridge and see people of all colors and stories walking in a faith that believes God is making us one.  Like the artist Common said at the Oscars last week, the bridge that was once a symbol of division is now a symbol of unity.    
       When we walked, instead of whispering about what God was doing, we sang loudly believing that the world would hear us.  Some blew Shofars or ram’s horns that are depicted in Hebrew Scripture.  These horns reminded marchers of God’s announcement of salvation.  We praised a God who makes us one.  We sang in a faith that believes that God wants Selma, the nation, and the world to know that a city that was once mortally wounded is being raised to new life in Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen. 

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