How Can We Respond, As A Church, To The Need

Jan and I tried all the church doors until we finally found one that opened. This was 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, an African-American centre of protest in 1963. In September of that year, four members of the KKK dynamited the church killing four girls between the age of 11 and 14. The tragedy reminded the world of the cruel determination of those who resisted the dream of racial justice.

In 1997 Spike Lee produced a documentary about the four girls and the lives that were cut short. Since then their stories have been in my thoughts.

We were shown around the church by a man whom we took to be one of the deacons. Particularly moving was the gorgeous modern stained glass of a black Jesus on the cross, a gift from the people of Wales.

I asked if any of the families of those girls still attended and he said yes, there were still family members that attended worship now and then. He took great pains to tell us that this was not just a museum but was a living breathing congregation of Christians.

Amazing how the church provided such leadership and strength to the civil rights movement. I wonder if we could do so again in response to the immense needs in our world.