Many years ago, I visited the sanctuary of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. You may remember that on September 15, 1963, a racially-motivated bombing took the lives of four innocent black youth as they prepared their Sunday School lessons on a Sunday morning at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.
High on the back wall of the sanctuary I viewed a dramatic stained glass window (pictured above). The dedication plaque informed me that the window was a gift from the people of Wales, replacing the window that was shattered during the bombing. In an expression of sympathy and concern, the people of Wales
The leaded-glass window is in various shades of blue and is a somewhat abstract rendering of the Crucifixion. The dark-skinned figure of Jesus, with a burdened head bowed toward his right shoulder, is superimposed on what is obviously a cross. At the bottom are the words, “You Do It To Me.”
As I looked more closely, I noticed that several sections of the stained glass were bulging at a particular place. I had learned that this bulging happens when the heat of the sun softens the lead between the panes. Also, the horizontal bracing of stained glass windows sometimes doesn’t bear the weight of the sections.
The bulging was at the knees of Jesus. I stepped back and saw the body of Jesus stretched out in the form of the cross. His bulging knees seemed to be giving way under the burdens Jesus bore. I almost felt the weight. It was the weight of racial hatred and violence. It was the weight of the vulnerability of Jesus, who gave himself fully and completely to God. It was the weight you and I feel when we try to live like Jesus did.
Are your knees sagging? Under what burdens do you feel you are giving way? Personal concerns or stresses? The heaviness of grief or sadness or guilt? Missed opportunities or bad decisions or broken relationships?
The writer of Hebrews admonishes “…lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet” (Hebrews 12:12). People of faith have the resources of their faith to strengthen weak knees. Maybe we should ponder those mysteries—the weight-bearing resources of faith.
January 17, 2011, marks another remembrance of the life and message of Martin Luther King, Jr. His knees, weakened by the burdens he bore, buckled for the last time on April 4, 1968, when he was murdered for his stance against racial violence. He had a dream…
I've lived in Memphis for the last two years. I visited the site where Martin Luther King was killed with my sister...that small hotel, the car still there, it serves as a memorial to him. It made me sad as I stood there, that in a country where freedom of speech is so important, that a man would be murdered for exercising that right. I wondered what incredible things he might have accomplished if he had lived....for he did have a dream. Thanks for doing this blog Randy.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Randy. This one and all the others back to "half-way there" are like breaths of fresh air. It's the Randy I've always known---thoughtful, honest and pastoral. You're at your best when you're tapping into your "word merchanthood. Keep at it. I need the sermon ideas.
ReplyDeleteBob Shrum