A Power So Great

I am always thankful to join in Martin Luther King Day celebrations.  The interfaith service at UUCA lifted my heart and soul—but later on, I felt deeply troubled.

I want to voice my doubts, along with my gratitude and joy.  A few others may share these emotions but feel as I wrongly did, profoundly alone. 

Most moving, for me, were our opening hymn, “Lift Every Voice,” and the words of Imam Abdul-Malik, Rev. Janet Parker, Rabbi Lia Bass, and Rev. Mark Kiyimba.

In different ways, each acknowledged the pain, uncertainties, humbling defeats, obstacles, doubts and despair we all face in lives of struggle for freedom, peace and equality.

What saves us?

“Lift Every Voice” calls upon the “God of our weary years [and] silent fears, [who] hast brought us thus far, [and] led us into the light,” asking that God to “Keep us for ever in the path we pray.”

Who is that God?

Who might dare to speak its name?

Is it spirit of life and love in which we all move and have our being?

The evolving collective consciousness of the cosmos?

Or the solidarity of humankind seeking to fulfill its dream?

I think our rational minds cannot grasp a sacred power so great.  But our hearts and souls and bodies may experience its grace, its power to hold us in the light even when we cannot believe.

“Lift Every Voice,” Dr. King, and African-American history tell us to trust the compassionate hands of a power greater than ourselves. 

Let us therefore have faith and hope, and the willingness to follow its lead.