Praying with Maya Angelou, Coretta Scott King & Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“And some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak.” Martin Luther King

“Throughout the epic freedom struggle of African Americans, our great sustainer of hope has been the power of prayer.” Coretta Scott King 

“My wish for you is that you continue. Continue to be who and how you are, to astonish a mean world with your acts of kindness.”  Maya Angelou

This morning has been rough. This day is difficult. I am dragging more than usual this morning and have been too burdened to share anything too personal. Wrote a whole five paragraph reflection and deleted it all because.. Y’all. I am done.

I am watching these “presidential” press conferences become even more farcical than I imagined possible. I am watching friends mourn loved ones lost and living loves in danger. I am trying to explain this season to my children, trying to stay hopeful, trying to pray. Today I am trying to keep my eyes open - literally and figuratively - because I know that it is possible to grasp contentment in this place, and I don’t want to miss it. But I am also keeping my ears pressed to the wisdom post, that ancient whispering tree of life, because I know that it is possible to mingle grief and toil with peace and rest. 

I am learning more and more why the old folks used to warn us “Don’t go about telling all your business.” It is difficult to find people we can trust. It is painful to experience betrayal and then not know where to turn. Have you ever been deceived by someone who seems to be lying for sport? Dehumanizing you because they enjoy it, or because it brings them some presumed benefit or gain - no matter how fabricated. This, to me, is one example of someone who is an enemy. This is what I have been lamenting over the past few days - or years, really - about the power structures in the United States, and around the world.

And this morning I am struck down by the weight of this day. I am convicted by the witnesses whose testimonies fill the atmosphere. Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Annie Johnson, April 4th 1928. The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated April 4th, 1968. The King family has made it clear that no tribute to Martin is true without honoring Coretta. On April 4th, 1967, Dr. King gave his seminal speech “Beyond Vietnam” at Riverside Church in New York City. This speech, his official public statement against the chaos in Vietnam, occurred in large part because of Coretta’s agitating her husband. Mrs. King gave an anti-war speech two years before Dr. King would say anything, at Madison Square Garden in 1965. Martin was asked if he had educated her for this speaking engagement, which Coretta took in his place. He replied: “She educated me.”

In these days when our minds are crowded with confusion, we need the grace and grit of these saints. We need the stories of their struggle, the words of their mouths and the meditations of their hearts. When Martin was murdered, Maya was cooking for her 40th birthday celebration dinner. Coretta later launched a campaign to insist that the convicted assassin had help from the FBI and local law enforcement. We still carry the pains of both of these mothers. We know in our bones that “they killed Martin”, we can feel it. And so many of us now know that bittersweetness of celebrating the hours of our first breath as God’s precious children draw their last.

My God, how I hate it here. And yes, I believe the Bible teaches me to express this feeling, to lament this reality, to weep and to wail and to have bad days. Because while my body is safe in a home where I am surrounded by silliness and snacks, I cannot be fully content, cannot don a happy grin, cannot be free, until all of God’s children are free. So my prayers today are in and through the words of saints who suffered long before me. Their sankofa burden is now made light by the witness-bearing of their legacy, for their souls are mourned yet free, and their bodies rest from their labor.  I offer this prayer, woven entirely from their sayings, none of my own, in feeble hopes that the Lord will lean out of heaven and listen to the moanings of my heart this morning. I need an answer from the listening Spirit, because today I am worn down and run out of words.

Let’s pray together.

“Eternal and everlasting God, who art the Father of all mankind, as we turn aside from the hurly-burly of everyday living, may our hearts and souls, yea our very spirits, be lifted upward to Thee, for it is from Thee that all blessing cometh. Keep us ever mindful of our dependence upon Thee, for without Thee our efforts are but naught. We pray for Thy divine guidance as we travel the highways of life. We pray for more courage. We pray for more faith and above all we pray for more love. May we somehow come to understand the true meaning of Thy love as revealed to us in the life, death and resurrection of Thy son and our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. May the Cross ever remind us of Thy great love, for greater love no man hath given. This is our supreme example, O God. May we be constrained to follow in the name and spirit of Jesus, we pray.”

“Perhaps a new spirit is rising among us. If it is, let us trace its movements and pray that our own inner being may be sensitive to its guidance, for we are deeply in need of a new way beyond the darkness that seems so close around us.”

Listen Lord, let us continue in this new way. Continue.

“‘til not some but all of God’s children have food, not some but all of God’s children have decent housing, not some but all of God’s children have a guaranteed annual income in keeping with the principles of liberty and grace.”

“Continue. In a society dark with cruelty to let the people hear the grandeur of God in the peals of our laughter. Continue to ignore no vision which comes to enlarge our range and increase our spirit. Continue to dare to love deeply and risk everything for the good thing.

Continue to plant a public kiss of concern on the cheek of the sick and the aged and infirm and count that as a natural action to be expected. Continue to let gratitude be the pillow upon which we kneel to say our nightly prayer and let faith be the bridge we build to overcome evil and welcome good…. Continue.“

In the name of the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Mobilizer, we pray. Amen.

Prayers built from: “Continue”, by Maya Angelou // Beyond Vietnam, A Time to Speak, by Martin Luther King Jr. // “A Public Prayer for Divine Perspective” attributed to Coretta Scott King

Scriptures: Psalm 5, 1 Corinthians 13

Experience:  Prayers from other figures in Black history: https://www.beliefnet.com/faiths/prayer/2009/01/prayers-from-african-americans-in-history.aspx

Images: BMike Studios, New Orleans LA

Palm Sunday worship online tomorrow:

Christ The King UCC Morning worship at 11am. (CST) www.CTK-UCC.org

Double Love Experience Worship at 5pm (EST) https://www.facebook.com/DoubleLoveExperience/

Worship Beyond the Walls Worship at 11:20am (CST) https://zoom.us/j/202294008