4 minute read
You can do hard things: Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Day worship service
from The Contact 2-7-24
by okumc
Blessed are the peacemakers. But peacemaking and peacekeeping are not the same thing.
That’s the message from the Feb. 4 worship service hosted by the Ethnic Local Church Concerns, sponsored by the Oklahoma conference of the United Methodist Church, and located at Quayle UMC in Northeast Oklahoma City.
In her opening remarks, Rev. Dr. Bessie Hamilton shared, “What a blessing it is that for us to gather to remember the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.”
After having had to postpone the event from its regularly scheduled date due to frigid temperatures and ice accumulations, Hamilton commented, “I think it is appropriate that we get to celebrate the beginning of Black History Month, as well.”
With celebratory music offered by the MLK Day Ensemble, a stirring spoken word performance by Makela Nero, and a rousing solo by Kimberly Jackson, emotions were primed for an inspirational evening of worship.
Beyond that inspiration came a thought-provoking, confronting set of lessons by Rev. Dr. Candace Lewis, the first female president-dean of Gammon Theological Seminary in Atlanta, Georgia.
“I’m probably the only person in Oklahoma who was happy that we had ice the other day, because I couldn’t come the other day, but now I’m here,” said Bishop Jimmy Nunn, referring to the mixed blessing of the weatherrelated delay of the event.
Rev. Derrek Belase pointed out that Hamilton’s work in both MultiEthnic Initiatives and in New Faith Communities is no mere coincidence. “As the state demographics have changed, we’ve realized that those two things are integrally connected; we can’t separate them. As the state becomes more diverse, we’re going to plant new churches, and we’ve got to do it in diverse ways.”
Rev. Long discussed the comparison with the Ten Commandments given to Moses, which are things we should not do, and the Beatitudes that Jesus shared, which are things we should do. She also attributed the title of her message, “We Can Do Hard things,” to a book by public school teacher Gabi Garcia.
“The book reflects on the beautiful diversity of children in our world, and it actually seeks to remind kids that they have power within themselves to affirm themselves,” Lewis stated.
The book “reminds children that they can find the courage to do hard things, even when hard things present themselves,” according to Lewis.
“I think we as people of God also need this kind of book,” she opined.
“I think the church is in a position where we have to begin to do hard things, or we are at risk of falling into irrelevance amidst our current culture,” said Lewis.
She discussed Dr. King’s contrasting of negative peace and positive peace. Positive peace “will agitate for justice and try to reconcile to create beloved community.” She added, “It engages systemic injustice and violence, and positive peace will expose fear, hostility, hatred, division - all in the process of social transformation.”
“Negative peace is the absence of tension that comes at the expense of justice,” which can “lead to complacency and the normalization of violence.”
She asked, “Are we going to be makers of positive peace or keepers of negative peace?”
“In order to be a positive peacemaker, and to offer in 2024, the year of our Lord, something more than a veneer of peacewhich, in essence, is still negative peace - if we are truly as United Methodists going to change the world and make a positive impact toward creating true civility and a more hospitable world, not just for your people but for all people together, we have to decide that we can do hard things,” she instructed. “In the church, as it relates to building this beloved community, it has to be more than a statement we put on a program once a year, and celebrated in the shortest month of the year,” said Lewis.
