Wednesday, January 16, 2002
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Wednesday, January 16, 2002 |
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Be 'intentional' ...live The Dream By REV JOHN HATCHER "I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood," Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Aug. 28, 1963. In some ways, I am a beneficiary of Dr. King's dream. Many more could be. The only thing that was on my mind in August 1963 was that I had to enroll in a new high school because my family had moved across town in Columbus, Ga. Both high schools I attended were all white. The church I attended was all white. And the bare truth is that all my life has been predominately white. I have pastored 99 percent white churches all my white life. Until ... Until a national conference of clergy sponsored by Promise Keepers held at the Georgia Dome in February, 1996. At that conference, I faced the incompletion of my life due to sticking to my denomination and my race. I had no friends outside of white Baptist friends. I was an embarrassment to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Many who know me are aware that I adopted a word which would guide me in future endeavors. The word, "intentional." If I wanted to be true to the words of the Bible that "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus," then I had to become intentional (Galatians 3:28). If I wanted my daughter to grow up without the prejudices of race and denomination as I did, I had to become intentional. If I wanted my family to have friends across denominational and racial lines friends who would add wealth to our lives then I had to become intentional. If I wanted the church to please our Lord and reflect the true composition of heaven, then I had to become intentional. I fully realize that I am no MLK Jr., but I believe Dr. King was counting on people like me to take up the dream in practical ways. Dr. King dreamed that we would sit down at tables of brotherhood. Those tables could be your home's dining table. Wouldn't it be wonderful to add a little color to your dining room? Those tables could be your church's Lord's Supper Table. Wouldn't it be a heavenly thing to see a Black Deacon and a White Deacon serving the Lord's Supper to a congregation of ebony and ivory? It won't happen by everybody sitting on his or her blessed assurances, waiting for someone else to take up the working out of the dream. It took 113 years from the time that slave owner Thomas Jefferson penned the words, "We hold these truths self-evident that all men are created equal," to the time that Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. It's been about 40 years since The Dream speech. Isn't it about time we all personally and corporately in the organizations that we influence issue a Proclamation of Intentionality?
The Rev. Dr. John Hatcher is pastor of River's Edge Community Church in Fayetteville. |
