When I got home last night, I turned on the television, and was very moved by the funeral of Coretta Scott King. I hadn't planned to watch it, but it was on every station. I only caught the last hour and a half of the six hour service, but I was in tears by the end.

Maya Angelou's words washed over the crowd gathered:

She was a quintessential African-American woman, born in the small-town repressive South; born of flesh and destined to become iron; born of cornflower and destined to become a steel magnolia.

I pledge to you, my sister, I will never cease - I mean to say, I want to see a better world. I mean to say I want to see some peace somewhere. I mean to say I want to see some honesty, some fair play. I want to see kindness and justice. This is what I want to see, and I want to see it through my eyes and through your eyes Coretta Scott King.

And then singing: I open my mouth to the Lord, and I won't turn back no -- I will go. I shall go. I'll see what the end is going to be.


Reverend Joseph Lowery spoke all in verse. He hypothesized a scene in Heaven where Martin was sitting down with Rosa to reminisce about old times, when all of a sudden he hears someone coming to the pearly gates. The Reverend ended his prose with, "Together at last! Together at last! Thank God Almighty, we're together at last!"

The King's youngest daughter gave the eulogy which turned out to be more of a challenge. I was particularly moved at her conclusion when she mentioned that the example that has been set for us is slowly moving on, but that God is rising up a new generation of leaders that will usher in this new era of change. And I thought,

"It's not just us. It's not just us who feel as though God is moving the nations toward something new."

After the funeral, I went into our study and picked up my book that contains the "I Have a Dream" speech. I read through it and felt as though the words spoken over forty years ago still held so much truth for us today. I thought about economic inequality, about poverty, about preventable disease, about racism that still runs deep even in our own neighborhood. The words of Martin Luther King Jr. spoke so loudly:

We have come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.

... Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force...

... This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair and a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony. With this faith we will be able to go to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

After the funeral was over, Jason and I heard a voice outside. There was a woman who lives down the street sitting on her porch and singing hymns at the top of her lungs, for the whole neighborhood to hear. Sitting and singing. One lone voice cutting through the cold of the winter air. Maybe in mourning, maybe in rejoicing.

To those of us who read this blog of random thoughts of one individual, I want to say that we have been offered a challenge. We need to move beyond simply talking, and be advocates of change. This world needs leaders who answer the call, and I think we are those very leaders.

We need to identify and reveal the chains of injustice that yoke the opressed, and work with all of HIS strength to set the captives free. As I went to bed last night, the air felt differently. It is ripe for change and that change needs to begin now.

For I, too, have a dream today.

posted by Kelly @ 11:08:00 AM