Honoring a great lady

Former Mayor and U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young, while providing television commentary as the coffin of Mrs. Coretta Scott King was being carried into the State’s rotunda last Saturday, said, “As a Christian, this part would be the most uncomfortable for her.”

A Christian himself, Ambassador Young knew something of the depth of Christian character, commitment, and belief that Mrs. King possessed. He also knew that her most precious relationship was not with her husband but with her Lord. And therefore lying in state in a governmental building would be a bit out of character for a such lady of faith and of the church.

No one should ever take away the lasting legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. I personally believe he was a modern day prophet calling God’s people to repentance and calling a nation to acknowledge a God higher than their man-made ”Jim Crow” laws and higher than their reasoned “separate but equal.”

He challenged legislators, governors, presidents, and justices to live up to the promise of the Declaration of Independence that: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.” But, for some reason, without the follow-up work of Mrs. King, I just don’t think all that has happened would have happened. If he was the drum major, she became the band.

I honor her in this small column space as a faithful wife. Never once did she ever behave like some of the Hollywood starlets who hear their husbands are sleeping around and let it leak to the national trash press. She never discussed her and Dr. King’s sleeping habits. She was faithful while they were married and ever since the shots fired on him. She never defended her commitment to her husband. It was always there.

I honor her also as a pastor’s wife. I know what the talk would have been in this pastor’s home if a bomb blast woke us up one morning. She stuck with Dr. King and his pastoral field like white on rice. She was significant in building the sense of community in and around the church that sustained all of them during the attacks, jailing, harassment, ridicule, and killings.

Mrs. King should also be honored as a great single parent mother. After pouring through the literature at the time, I found out in 1988 that the single parent mother has the toughest job in America. Literally. Work all day to provide for the needs of her and her four children. Come home and immediately cook supper. Followed by helping with homework and then preparing kids for bed. At the end of the day there was only time to take your own bath and get ready for tomorrow.

She will be remembered, however, as a strong, quiet voice in the march for social justice around the world and America’s civil rights movement. She almost single handedly kept the “dream” alive. She led the way for the institution of the holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

But more than anything, I want to honor her for her sterling Christian faith. In the last several months I heard her interviewed and she said “we needed to pray about the situation — for those people who believe in prayer.”

The love of her life may have been Dr. King, but the model of her life was Jesus Christ. She was full of grace and truth. She deserves the reunion with her husband after these many years.

What’s more, she deserves to hear those special words from her Lord Jesus Christ, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”