I grew up in Montgomery, AL. Lived there til I was 13. As a junior high student, I attended a performing arts school in the center of downtown Montgomery…just a short walk from many historic sites including Dexter Avenue Baptist Church where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. served as Pastor. As a student, I remember taking walking field trips to that church and to many of those sites. I remember our teacher showing us two very old water fountains side by side (neither in proper working order I’m certain) and asking us why we thought there were two? I’m sure I was the eager kid who raised his hand with the answer. Jim Crow segregation laws. Legal racism. Those experiences had a remarkable impact on me. As a kid, I wished the world had never heard of Dr. King. I wished there had never been a reason for him to have a holiday or be a household name. I wondered how Christ followers (just a generation or two before me) who loved Jesus ever let it get to a point where we would need a civil rights movement in the first place.
Today, I took our students to such a place here in Birmingham. Last year, I made the mistake of letting them vote on options for our extended free-time day. I was still somewhat new here. The students chose the mall. I was bummed. This year, no such choice. I told them we were going to the Civil Rights District and that I would be their tour guide. We saw Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, the site of the bombing that killed four girls around the same age as many of our students. We walked through Kelly Ingram Park, the site of many boycotts, movements, and marches…many of which ended with mass arrests, water hoses, and police dogs. I got to share my heart, not for equality or justice, but for God’s love. You see, if we love people the way God loves people and if we see people the way God sees people, we’d never need to speak of inequality or injustice. And this isn’t the result of some ideal world where everyone would be a Christ-follower and love Jesus. It’s the result of a belief so strong in the love of God. You see, I think God’s love is more powerful than injustice. And inequality stands no match for God’s love. Maybe we don’t need to rally around justice. Maybe we just need to better understand and better teach about love. If God’s love was the aim of God’s people 110 years ago when segregation laws were born, they’d have never made it into existence. And while I am certain Dr. King would be ready to stand up again in a moments notice against all things unjust, I am fairly sure he would be just fine with the lack of fame…having lived in a different kind of world that didn’t need him to champion freedom because God’s love from God’s people created a world that didn’t need him for that.
The students really seemed to enjoy taking a walk where only history book photos have taken them before. During our final church group time of the day, one student spoke up and said, “Nic Allen, you were right!” I made her say it again, only louder the second time! Students who at first would have rather done the mall thing really enjoyed taking a tour down history lane. Our final challenge at the District was to observe this part of history as something that wasn’t all that long ago and as something that still exists today in many parts of the world including the Roma people that we’re learning about all week in our missions moments. We prayed a prayer of thanksgiving there and then we went out for some frozen yogurt.
It was a great night of “free” time focusing on freedom. Thank you historic downtown Birmingham for being a place where I can take students to learn. And thank you Civil Rights Movement. Although I wish we never needed you in the first place, I am so very glad you happened.
Posted in M-Fuge Samford 2010, Missions, Student Pastor - Nic Allen, Summer 2010 by Nic Allen 1 Comment
