Hope is Real

           Today the Episcopal Church recognizes the martyrdom of Jonathan Daniels who was murdered by a sheriff's deputy 52-years ago in Hayneville, Alabama during the Civil Rights Movement.  After the act of terror that occurred in Charlottesville this past weekend, Daniels’ martyrdom doesn’t feel like it happened that long ago.

            I learned of the domestic act of terror by a white supremacist as I was driving my family back from vacation on Dauphin Island. When I looked in the rear-view mirror at my children, who were sleeping peacefully, I wanted to imagine a future where they weren’t exposed to this kind of violence and bigotry. I wanted to believe that humanity could evolve into a more peaceful kind. I wanted to be more hopeful, but I was at the foot of the cross struggling to see beyond the grave.

I was eager to go to church the next morning and be reminded that hope is real. At church, God spoke clearly of hope when we, through the gospel lesson, encountered the Jesus who makes even the wind and sea obey.

I found myself in Peter’s shoes as I reflected on the part of my ministry devoted to the work of issues related to race and reconciliation. I thought about all the times when I, too, stepped out into the middle of the storm hoping Jesus would bring peace amid chaos.

I thought about the times when I let the waves of evil convince me that the way to holy ground was impossible. I thought about the times I felt my heart sink when forward progress was flooded by hatred and intolerance and indifference.

            I was also reminded of a member of St. Paul’s who helped Jonathan Daniels integrate the church. A local attorney at the time, Miller Childers went to the Dallas County Courthouse to take care of some business. When he arrived, he saw Sheriff Jim Clark order his deputies to deny entrance to black school teachers who came registering to vote. Clark told the deputies to use force if necessary. 1

This was the moment when Childers realized he could not remain indifferent and his actions over the next several months tells us that he did not remain indifferent. Childers, along with Sam Hobbs, Roswell Falkenberry, Kate and Harry Gamble, and others led the charge to allow African-Americans to worship at St. Paul’s. Consequently, these members of St. Paul’s faced personal and professional humiliation in the local community.

These lesser known saints used their positions of privilege and power to do what was right when they could have just as easily gone on about their lives. But like Peter, their faith didn’t allow them to go on as if it wasn’t their problem. Their faith compelled them to wade into the deep waters for it is in these deep waters where Jesus grants his peace.

Jonathan Daniels knew first-hand the peace of the Lord in the middle of the storm. A week before his murder, Daniel wrote these words in his jail cell, “I lost fear in the Black Belt when I knew in my bones and sinews that I have truly been baptized into the Lord’s death and resurrection, that in the only sense that really matters I am already dead, and my life is hid with Christ in God.” 

Alas, I was reminded that hope is real. And I hope what happened in Charlottesville helps us let go of our political or social identities so we may claim the identity of Christ whose Word separates good from evil like a sword.  I hope what happened in Charlottesville tells us that none of us, wherever we live, can pretend issues related to race are ancient history. Even if we ourselves aren’t acting out of hate, I hope what happened in Charlottesville encourages us to stand up to and dismantle the institutions, systems, and allegiances which enable acts of hatred and terror. I hope when we feel our heart sinking in the midst of the storm, we have even a mustard seed of faith to cry, like Peter, “Lord, save us!” 

I hope all these things because I believe our salvation story is built on a God who brings peace out of chaos. May we have the grace to meet Jesus in the eye of the storm where there is peace which surpasses human understanding.

1. Eagles, Charles W., Outside Agitator: Jon Daniels and the Civil Rights Movement in Alabama, The University of North Carolina Press, 1993. Pgs. 70ff.