Bible Study Notes - John 4:43-54

Bible Study Notes – John 4:43-54

In this week’s passage, we witness the second significant sign (miracle) that Jesus performs in The Book of Signs, John chapters one to twelve.  A royal official approaches Jesus to secure the healing of the official’s son, possibly his only male heir.  Emotionally, we identify with this desperate father’s plea.  Conceivably, his appeal to Jesus is his final attempt to save his dying son.  Saving the son means saving the posterity of the father’s name and family.  The son’s need for physical healing represents more than a biological disease.  The survival of the son’s life equates with the future life of his entire family.  The means of material wealth and social status could not spare the nobleman son’s life.  In stark contrast to his normal way of resolving adversities, this royal man ironically appeals to Jesus Christ for help.

As you study the text, allow the Holy Spirit to reveal new insights to you.  Often when reviewing a familiar passage of scripture, it is easy to assume we have it “pegged.”  Because we have heard several sermons on the passage and studied it previously, we can easily believe there is nothing new we can glean.  On the contrary as the Bible is the “active, living Word of God” (Hebrews 4:12), the Holy Spirit graciously yields new revelation each time we study a passage.  More practically, as our daily challenges and circumstances change, we view Scripture through an evolving “prism of experience.” 

Each week, I ask as we dissect a text, what new insights did you receive during the reading?  Did any words leap off the page?  What details particularly caught your attention?  Have you been overlooking any details in your previous study of this passage?  What did you see this time that you fail to recognize in previous readings?  What fundamental lessons about Almighty God and our Lord Jesus Christ did you glean this time?

Additionally, utilizing the rudimentary techniques of literary criticism, let’s detail the plot embedded in the passage, depict the setting with vivid and exacting description, describe the characters, speculate about their motives and analyze the interrelationship of the people who appear within the text.

As our study of the gospel of John continues, I marvel consistently about one of its major themes, the love of Almighty God as revealed and embodied in Jesus Christ.  As the great apostle of love, John singularly emphasizes agape, divine selfless, sacrificial and redemptive love.  Anyone who encounters Jesus automatically receives this divine love which liberates from fear, shame and guilt, redeems past pain, nullifies sin and judgment, erases mistakes and scars of riotous living, heals broken souls and graciously gives wholeness.  Beyond an amazing physical healing, Jesus offers the miracle of God’s love to this royal official and his son.

Consider the following thoughts, ideas and questions as you study the text.

• In the forty-third verse, John records Jesus’ departure for Galilee in accordance with the synoptic teaching that a prophet fails to receive honor amongst his hometown crowd.  Family and friends rarely allow people to mature into respected, beloved and venerable celebrities.  They retain their very subjective and selective memories of embarrassing childhood situations and limitations of famous people whom other revere.  “I remember you when you were a snotty nose kid.”  “I played with him and his siblings.  No one in the old neighborhood ever thought he would make it big.”  Elsewhere, John records “even His brothers did not believe in Him” as it relates to the ministry of Jesus.
• Interestingly, the Galileans welcome Jesus as they witnessed the miraculous signs in Jerusalem during the recent perennial Passover Feast which they attended.  One wonders whether they seek exclusive access for free healings of anyone and everyone whom they know.  After all, Jesus is one of them and should share His fame and divine power with the people who knew Him when.  “Isn’t this Joseph’s son, the carpenter, whom we knew when he was a little boy?”  Possibly, they assured people in the surrounding Decapolis that they could gain access for them to Jesus’ healing power because of this relationship.
• Curiously, Jesus actually returns to the sight of the first sign He offers to the crowd of God’s visitation amongst them.  At Cana in Galilee where He turned water in wine, an unnamed royal official seeks Jesus and begs Him to come to Judea and heal his son who lies close to death.  Was Cana in Galilee a particularly spiritual place where faith exists bountifully thus yielding unimaginable miracles?
• Please note the desperation of the royal official who condescends to seek Jesus’ help.  Ordinarily, this official would not travel to this poor region of “backwater, illiterate” and uncultured people.  He lives in the cosmopolitan and developed area of Judea. 
• In the forty-eighth verse, Jesus scolds the audience for desiring a miraculous sign or some type of supernatural wonder as a prerequisite for belief in Him and His teachings about the kingdom of God.  The danger of being a “sign-seeker” is your faith rests ultimately in empirical evidence which fades in time.  As the memories of witnessing a miracle recedes with time, the certainty of your faith will decrease commensurately.  Consider the eyewitness testimony of four observers of an accident.  As time passes, the details become sketchier as to what each person exactly recalls about the cause of the accident.  Thus, faith cannot rest on the sinking sands of a personal experience which may become questionable as the years proceed.  Rather as the Wesleyan quadrangle posits, intellectually respectable faith rests upon the combination of Scripture, tradition, reason and experience.
• In the next verse, this desperate father articulates his plea in asking Jesus to come to Judea before his son dies.  His request ignores any relevant theological, ideological, political, philosophical, social or economic questions.  The royal official focuses wholeheartedly upon his son’s immediate need of healing and restoration.
• Please note Jesus equally disregards these questions and attentively listens to the official’s request.  In so doing, Jesus loves the royal official and his son.  He extends Almighty God’s unfailing love and unquestionable faithfulness to them.  Although they are Gentiles and conceivably undeserving of the blessings of the people of the covenant, they receive God’s love.  Actually, anyone who genuinely encounters Jesus equally receives God’s unconditional love. 
• Parenthetically, at the Last Supper, Jesus instructs the disciples that love is the distinguishing characteristic of His disciples.  “By love will the world know that you are my disciples; by the love that you show one toward another.”  (John 13:34-35)  As the Church evangelizes, we must demonstrate to the secular world and persons seeking God the power of sharing His love.  How tragic it would be if we are known for exhilarating worship, effective programs, massive budgets, excellent administration and other superlative achievements but receive criticism and condemnation because we lack love.
• Jesus assures the royal official of his son’s healing and directs the man to leave and return home.  Notice the faith of the royal official who “takes Jesus at His word” and departs for home.  Later, the man learns his son was healed at exactly the time Jesus spoke the words, “You son will live.”  Arguably, the royal official’s faith is incomplete and immature yet he exercises the faith he has with authenticity.  Perhaps, you are in a crisis.  I encourage you to utilize the measure of faith you have.  The author of Hebrews suggests we draw near to God with a sincere heart and the full assurance of faith which enables us to triumph over daily challenges and personal adversities. (Hebrews 10:22)

The Movement for Today - Reflections on Civil Rights

The Movement for Today  

Reflections on Civil Rights

“This is the day that the Lord has made.  We will rejoice and be glad in it.”  Recently, the Civil Rights Room of the Nashville Public Library was formally dedicated.  This miniature “museum” will forever commemorate the sacrifice, service and commitment to freedom, justice and equality of the leaders and participants in the Nashville Civil Rights Movement.  Future generations, ad infinitum, will be able to visit this room and learn about the inimitable contributions of their forebears.  We pray that they will leave the room with a greater appreciation for the cost of liberty and full citizenship.  We rejoice in the dawning of today in which we vindicate those who were previously scourged for having the vision of coercing American society to fulfill the grand aims of the Declaration of Independence and the U. S. Constitution.

In the third chapter of the book of Ezra, the author records the “Rebuilding of the Altar” and the “Rebuilding of the Temple.”  In the latter scene, verses seven through thirteen, the older and younger generations gather for a momentous worship experience to thank Almighty God for His enduring goodness and faithful love which allow them to commence the process of rebuilding the Temple.  In a similar vain, we gather today in gratitude to the Lord for the innumerable persons who marched, bled, protested, prayed, and spent time in jail in order to secure a more just and equal America.  In the Ezra passage, as the foundation of the Temple is laid, great shouts go up.  However, the shouts are a mixture of joy and sadness.  The younger generation rejoices because of Israel’s return from exile and the blessing of commencing the rebuilding of the great and glorious Temple that they had heard from their parent and grandparents.  In the latter instance, the older folks greatly lament the loss of Solomon’s Temple and the history, culture, artifacts and memories that could never be replaced.  The text tells us that the shouts of joy and sadness were indistinguishable.

Civil rights celebrations often re-enact that scene in Ezra.  The younger generation rejoices over the gains since the bleak period of 1918 to 1975.  We are grateful for the access to education, corporate America, elective office, suburban housing, the upper echelons of Hollywood and the television industry, production and diversity in the recording industry, etc. that the sacrifices of the Civil Rights Movement allow.  In addition, we expect even greater achievements throughout all sectors of American society.  In contrast, the older generation wonders whether the younger generation fully appreciates them and the sacrifices that they made.  The elders of the Movement correctly criticize the youth and young adults for failing to study this important history.  Our elders lament the loss of unique and spiritual methods of nonviolent resistance and “soul force” in which the gains of full citizenship were obtained.  Yet, the younger generation wholeheartedly believes that there is more progress to be made.  Their forebears remain steadfast that there has not been sufficient gratitude extended for the significant progress that has been achieved.  Once again, the shouts of joy and the deeply felt laments of loss are juxtaposed indistinguishably.

Nevertheless, we face the challenge of defining the Movement for today.  In the Ezra passage, Israel had the task of rebuilding an entire culture in addition to their main house of worship.  How would they preserve the Law of Moses, the priestly rituals, the various feasts, the mandated sacrifices and the many other religious and social customs that they observed prior to the Babylonian exile?  Given the unrelenting assault upon affirmative action, the refusal of recent administrations to enforce the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the rise of the industrial prison complex in the United States, etc., one wonders how we will solidify permanently the accomplishments of the Civil Rights Movement?  In order to do so, I submit that we face the primary test of characterizing the components of today’s movement.

We no longer face the blatant, cruel and ugly Goliath of overt racism, segregation and the systemic subjugation of African-Americans.  Whereas these issues persist, they are not practiced in the obvious ways of yesteryear.  Thus, they do not lend themselves to the clear identifiably naming of the 1940’s through 1960’s.  The issues of today’s movement are blended with emerging cultural pluralism, burgeoning religious diversity and the increasing importance of economic globalization.  Today’s movement is multidimensional and multi-layered.  In addition to the moral denunciation of systemic evil and the prophetic quest for a more just society, today’s movement requires an equal level of intellectual depth as the one of the 1960’s.  Expertise in one or more areas (housing, voting, education, crime, the arts, economic development, etc.) is necessary from anyone who aspires to leadership.  More significantly, an even greater level of spiritual and personal commitment must be given by today’s leaders, considering the myriad temptations to pursue only one’s individual dreams and goals.  The context of globalization with the specific rise of the Pacific Rim, Eastern Europe and the continent of Africa and the competing interests of diverse ethnic communities in America necessitate new approaches to resolving lingering problems.

As we appropriately pause and celebrate past achievements, let us allow the past to instruct and continually challenge us.  As one of the recipients of the sacrifices of others, I feel a particular devotion to expanding upon their gains and exceeding their commitment.  I feel the necessary debt of paying homage to them.  However, I realize that we must look forward to even brighter days and greater successes.  Accordingly, I expect to work with my contemporaries to acquire the requisite intellectual, spiritual and public policy tools to successfully participate in today’s civil rights movement.  As we gather for milestones like today, then we will no longer need to contrast the sounds of joy and mourning.  Instead, the older and younger generations will harmoniously sing a jubilant song of triumph.

Reactions to a Visit with a Death Row Inmate

In this column, I share my reactions to a visit with a death row inmate which occurred on his twenty-second birthday in November 2007.  At the time, I participated in a seminar of doctoral students at Vanderbilt University who were exploring practical ways of designing course curricula for future pastors.  I offer the unedited text of a memorandum which I wrote to the class.

5 December 2007

To:                  Colleagues in the “Practical Theology and Religion in the Global Context” Doctoral Seminar

From:             Victor Michael Singletary

Re:                  My Reactions to our Visit with Mr. Detrick Cole, Death Row Inmate                            Riverbend Maximum Security Prison

I leave a visit with a death row inmate with four competing emotions and thoughts.  First, I am angry because I know the difference that a zip code can make in the decision to sentence the person to death.  The charade of a just process equally bothers me because in most instances the “machinery of death” operates on automatic churning undeserving individuals and families into its blades like a formidable Mack trash truck.  The confluence of poverty, substandard education, familial dysfunction, inadequate legal representation, mental illness, prosecutorial political ambitions and misconduct (suppression of evidence, coerced confessions, rhetorical excesses, etc.), and the race of the victim congeals into a capital sentence.  Second, I usually regret the failure of the Church to intervene in the life of inmate.  Both Detrick Cole and Abu Ali Abdur-Rahman insist that had they been taught the love of God they would not have ended up on death row. 

Third, these visits help redefine “The Great Commission” for me.  Lest evangelism lapse into a spiritual version of “American rugged individualism,” the process of making disciples should include preventing the escalation of the number of death row inmates and other people in socially precarious situations.  I leave wondering what practical and effective program can be established to reverse this trend.  I see such a need as a particular prerogative of the Church, generally, and the Black Church, specifically.  Where do we begin?  How do we begin?  Fourth, although I remain steadfast in hope, I am overwhelmed by the experience.  Attempting to remedy this cause seems like such a Goliath.  Yet, I realize that other activists in the past fought successfully with fewer resources.

The entire time that we visited with Detrick I did not see a typical death row inmate.  I saw a princely man with incredible potential who assumes responsibility for his actions and possesses a reasonable remorsefulness.  I remain startled that he was sent to death row at twenty-one years of age.  Are we so jaded and cynical of a society that we refuse to consider the possibility that someone of his age could reform his ways and find personal transformation.  In addition, I saw a young man who was failed by many persons whose responsibility it was to demonstrate to him how to find his uniqueness and gifts.  Consistent with the position of Atty. Brad MacLean, society through its indifference and acquiescence of systemic inequities changed this talented young man into a death row inmate.

I appreciated Detrick’s willingness to assume responsibility for his actions.  He did not plead innocence.  Yet, he adamantly states that he does not deserve death because he did not commit “first degree premeditated” murder. 

As a pastor, I welcomed Detrick’s assurance that he does not harbor any resentment toward the Church.  I accept his recommendations for empowering youth ministries in local churches.  It is amazing just how important a vibrant youth group is in the lives of the children and adolescents who attend!  Imagine the countless felons and murderers whose course of life could possibly change if the Church most directly prioritized evangelizing this demographic of society.

I share the disdain of another member of the seminar for the rather “chipper” attitude of our escort to Unit 2.  Mr. Smith (obvious change of name) seemed absolutely oblivious to the gravity of our visit and its emotion magnanimity.  Quite possibly, Mr. Smith needs this dissonance to do his job.  However, his loquacious pride about the security mechanisms of Riverbend and its ability to thwart any escape attempts lead me to believe otherwise.  In addition, I found the guards equally detached from the human implications of their jobs.

I am pleased to learn of Detrick’s determination to obtain his General Equivalency Diploma and his growth in Christian education.  Those goals yield another way in which the Church can minister to incarcerated persons.  He also reminded us of many other inmates at the Riverbend facility other than the death row inmates.  Further, he mentioned the perennial Christmas gifts of toiletries and other permissible items.

Summarily, I continue to discern the best method for me to incorporate my heartfelt concern into to practical and productive ministry.

God and September 11th

God and September 11th

Sunday, September 16, 2001

Originally, I published this column in the weekly church newsletter of the church in Nashville TN where I served as Pastor when the tragic events of 11 September 2011 occurred.

Today, we join our brothers and sisters throughout the country and the world in mourning the tragic and colossal loss of undeserving life on Tuesday, September 9, 2001, “a day which shall live in infamy.”  Terrorism struck on American soil in an unparalleled act of evil and destruction.  Hijacking four commercial planes, they flew two of them into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and crashed the third one into the Pentagon in Washington, DC.  Inexplicably, the fourth plane exploded in an open field outside of Pittsburgh, PA.  More American citizens died on that day than any other single day of war in which the U.S. has been involved.  An official death toll, which may approach the tens of thousands, remains undetermined.  These horrific deeds rightly deserve the condemnation of people of faith everywhere.  Moreover, the victims and their families need our prayers, love and concrete compassion through blood donations, money and other necessary actions.  We share their loss in our spiritual and practical support.

Last Tuesday’s wanton and unprovoked attack upon the political, military and economic power of America unequivocally challenges the integrity of our faith, constitutional principles and democratic ideals.  Will we respond to this tragedy in a manner that is consistent with our sacred beliefs and principled way of life?  In our demand for justice, will we insist upon the due process of American and international law as the most preferable means to obtaining justice? 

As a congregation whose character primarily comprises African-American Christians, we face an additional challenge of responding to this evil deed with the righteous substance of our faith.  If we hasten toward revenge and retaliation without a thorough investigation and an analysis of the complexity of terrorism, then we dim both the lights of the gospel and democracy in such utter darkness.  We must resist the emotional and uncritical desire for the immediate gratification of inflicting pain upon someone in the Middle East.  Furthermore, we risk the desecration of our faith through bloodthirstiness and the sacrifice of the judicious principles upon which our society exists.

How should we respond?  First and foremost, we continue praying as we did on Tuesday evening.  We gathered that night to seek God’s comfort and counsel.  In accordance with the Bible, President George W. Bush, the Cabinet, congressional and world leaders desperately need the intercession of faithful people worldwide.  We pray that they will seek the humility of faith and ask for divine guidance as they prepare to respond.  Secondly, we pray in action as we attend to the needs of the victims, the wounded and their families.  Third, we offer consolation and encouragement to those persons bewildered by such a monumental act of evil.  Many will look to us for explanation, direction and the strength to journey forward.  The church has a unique opportunity to demonstrate the essence of faith and love to the human family. 

As the world’s sole superpower, the United States also has a singular chance to show the world what our constitution and democratic ideals really mean.  If we retaliate merely to inflict punishment and make ourselves feel good, then we will significantly undermine our standing in the world and corrode the respect of our allies. We would breathe new life into the spiral of unjustifiable violence that culminates in terrorism.  We have a chance to invite the world, Western and Eastern peoples and faith traditions, to join us in a democratic and just collaboration to bring the responsible persons to justice.  Vengeance will yield the continued and uncritical hatred of future generations for America. 

In contrast, we have the choice of building friendships with the Palestinians, Arabs, and Islamic followers in addition to our allies.  Utilizing our constitutional principles and democratic ideals, we ask people of good faith to assist in capturing the perpetrators.  Then, we justly try them according to our legal system.  After the due process of the law, we punish them to the fullest extent of the law.  This approach recognizes that Americans must learn to embrace the dignity and human rights of all peoples and nations of the world.  Have we treated our brothers and sisters in the human family in such a way that they feel that terrorism is their only defense against us?  We must consider what role American international policy plays in acts of terror.

Summarily, I suggest that the President and American leaders take a balanced, judicial approach in resolving and responding to this disaster.  Otherwise, we will pass on a legacy of violence and hatred to our posterity.  The church has the biblical mandate to offer an alternative to the indiscriminate thirst for revenge that persists.  Contrarily, we offer love and judicious principles of our faith.  Both Christian and American integrity are on trial.

"Get a Life!" Baccalaureate Sermon 26 May 2002 Part One

“Get a Life!” – Baccalaureate Sermon Part I

26 May 2002

This week, I summarize the major points of last week’s Baccalaureate Sunday sermon, “Get A Life!”  The text came from Deuteronomy 30:15-20.  On the verge of the Promised Land, Moses offers the people of Israel a fundamental choice: blessings and curses, prosperity and destruction and life and death.  He challenges them to choose the Lord and thereby choose life.  High school and collegiate graduates face a similar choice.  Will they find the wherewithal to determine the unique lives that God has graciously given them?  Moreover, will they cultivate the confidence to define and pursue their dreams and goals?  In accordance with Proverbs 3:5-8, as they choose to follow the Lord’s guidance, they will find life.

I.  The Creator’s Gift of a Unique Life

Science affirms our absolute uniqueness as individuals.  No one else shares our DNA, fingerprints, hair or teeth.  Those distinctions represent the inimitable talents, gifts and passions that God gives each of us.  More significantly, God privileges us with the possibility of becoming His chosen vessels.  He uses us to disclose the secrets of science; depict the majesty of His imagination through music and art, establish justice through the law, mentor a future generation through teaching and education and meet the needs of suffering humankind through the ministry of helps.  Choosing life requires finding the divine spark within us.  God has something specific for each of us to accomplish to His honor and glory and in service to humankind.  That personal mission is the His gift of a unique life to us.

II.  Abundant and Eternal Life in Christ

Howard Thurman taught that leading a purposeful life eradicates the fear of death.  In Christ, God gives us abundant and eternal life, which begins the very instant, that we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  Liberty from fear and the agony of human limitations and existence are found in a relationship with God in Christ.  Indeed, our hearts remain restless until we find Christ.  Life in Him is relational, experiential and practical.  It yields the enduring things: faithfulness, gentleness, goodness, joy, kindness, love, patience, peace and self-control.  With those characteristics, one can truly experience the joy of life!

III.  Love

Arguably, one is not alive until one knows what it means to love and to be loved.  Love is a triangle that includes God, self and others.  As one loves God and self, then one can love others.  In the fullness of time, I hope the graduates find a lifelong companion who will assist them in becoming the best child of God of which they are capable.  Charles Dickens, in his classic novel, David Copperfield, says, “There is not a disparity in marriage like unsuitability of mind and purpose.”  Hopefully, the graduates will find a friend for the journey of life with whom they share the same mind and purpose.  Pulling together, they can achieve collectively what would elude them individually.

"Get a Life!" - Baccalaureate Sermon 26 May 2002 Part Two

“Get a Life!” – Baccalaureate Sermon Part II

26 May 2002

IV.  Dreams and Goals

Sarah Vaughn sang a jazz song, “You’ve got to have a dream.  You’ve got to have a dream.  How you gonna have a dream come true, if you don’t have a dream?”  Our lifelines are possibly tied to the dreams of our youth.  I hope that this year’s graduates will stay true to the dreams of their youth.  Periodically, life forces you to check the dream file.  When you reach certain milestones in life (graduation, marriage, children, job, promotion, etc.), consulting the “dream file” is in order.  These milestones also include occurrences that we characterize negatively: termination, downsizing, death of a loved one, a health crisis, a broken engagement or a divorce.  If channeled to a meaningful purpose and handled with spiritual versatility, those events hold tremendous blessings for us.  They are the doorway to a new vista in life.  Lastly, they can be the very catalyst that leads to fulfillment of our dreams.

Goals are the practical steps that we take in the direction of accomplishing our dreams.  We must write down our goals (Habakkuk 2:4).  In fact, you do not have a goal until you have put it in writing.  Norman Vincent Peale recommends that we carry an index card containing our goals on our person.  Nonetheless, we should utilize imagination to fire up our goals.  George Lucas, the creator, producer and director of the Stars Wars trilogy, says, “You can’t do it unless you can imagine it.”  Carl G. Jung suggests that we engage in the spiritual exercise of active imagination in which we see ourselves succeeding.  Peale encourages us to affirm daily our dreams and goals.  Succinctly, Henry David Thoreau encourages us, “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.  Live the life that you have imagined.” 

V.  Knowledge

At ninety years of age, the great U.S. Supreme Court justice, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., read Plato’s Republic “to improve his mind.”  We must be ever growing and learning.  College is one of two things.  It is either the gateway to the ocean of ideas and knowledge or it is a mental and conceptual prison.  In the former instance, one begins the lifelong process of personal development and spiritual growth, which necessitate the discipline of learning.  If one refuses to grow, then one will leave the collegiate years imprisoned to the uncritical acceptance of one’s teachers learning.

VI.  Work

There is no magic in life!  The ultimate fulfillment of one’s dreams and goals depends heavily upon one’s willingness to work.  No one can nullify your ambitions.  Also, no one can tell you that you cannot achieve your dreams and goals.  However, if you do not work toward them, you will not realize them.  Hard work is the pathway to success and excellence.  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said it best, “The heights of men sought and kept; Were not obtained by sudden flight; But they while their companions slept; Toiled upward in the night.”

VII.  Manners

My late paternal grandfather, Sammie Singletary, Sr., taught me the importance of manners.  He said that manner would take me places that intelligence, talent, looks and success never could.  For the graduates, always remember to have good manners.

Lastly, the graduates need for things for the journey of life: (1) good ears to hear the beat of the divine drummer, (2) a mirror to reflect one’s progress in life, (3) strong mental elbows so they can think for themselves and (4) the Word of God, a lamp unto their pathway and a light unto their feet.

The Lord Delivers the Righteous Psalm 37:23-40

The Lord Delivers the Righteous – Psalm 37:23-40

The Bible contains many amazing promises that Almighty God makes to encourage His people to relate obediently and faithfully to Him.  The twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy details a litany of wonderful blessings that God intends to bestow upon those persons who make Him their “Ultimate Reality.”  Periodically, one wonders whether these promises still apply to committed believers.  One begins to feel that one is doing all of the right things in the right ways and at the right time yet everything seems to result in failure.  Additionally, one bathes one’s pursuits in persistent, fervent and passionate prayer.  Hopefully, one is not cloaking one’s self-centered ambitions and self-seeking fears.  Rather, one desires earnestly to further the gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and build His kingdom.  As one industriously preoccupies one’s self with such noble aims and activities, one undoubtedly observes others who appear to prosper greatly although they do not share one’s goals, priorities and principles for use of time, talent and financial resources.  Inevitably, a very perplexing question arises in the recesses of one’s mind and closets of one’s heart.  How do a loving God who pledges to bless bountifully those persons who faithfully follow Him withhold His tangible favor from them and liberally expend His grace upon those persons who seem to ignore Him?  Simply stated, does it pay to serve the Lord?  Will the righteous actually inherit the promises that a scripture says that they will?

Many of us know very godly people who shoulder an unfair burden of challenges and adversity.  They or people whom they love dearly face health concerns.  In some instances, people’s lives are in jeopardy.  Financially, they live on very tight budgets.  As it relates to the fulfillment of their dreams and goals, they encounter one defeat after another.  Despite, however, these sequential disappointments, they find the resilience and resolve to persevere.  Immediately, they try the next approach.  Nevertheless, they fight on hoping for that fortunate break which makes all of the difference in determining their success or failure.  On the job, this type of person works faithfully and diligently even though they have not received a much needed raise or well-deserved promotion.  At home, these types of persons are the “go to” people in their families.  They multitask their as much as they do so on the job.  Because of their myriad responsibilities in both places, the lines blur between the office and home.  Nonetheless, these righteous people continue to praise and thank God genuinely for fullness of their lives.  How can this be?

The fundamental promise of this immortal Psalm which we often hear recited is the faithful deliverance of the righteous by Almighty God.  There is not a fear or foe that the righteous encounter out which the Lord will not deliver them.  After exhorting his listener’s to refuse the temptation to fret because the wicked appear to be more greatly blessed than the righteous, David testifies and declares, “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.”  On the authority of his personal experience of God’s unfailing love, unquestionable faithfulness and unending grace, David reassures the righteous that Almighty God will protect them in each and every trial of life.  I imagine that David mentally recalls the countless times that God proved Himself faithful in David’s life.  Perhaps, God’s persistent mercy during the times of David’s moral and personal failures solidifies the truth of this promise in David’s thinking.  Notwithstanding his adultery with Bathsheba, conspiracy to murder bureaucratically Uriah, loss of the son conceived in this regrettable mistake, rebellion of Absalom in response to David’s silence about the rape of Tamar, and the many attacks of Saul and other enemies, David flourishes.  Moreover, his wealth grows commensurately; his children are the direct beneficiaries of these innumerable blessings.  Reliably, David confirms the steadfast love, daily mercy, and great faithfulness of Almighty God toward the righteous.

What does it mean to be righteous?  People banter this term about in church circles.  Mostly, one believes that the righteous are persons who adhere strictly to a code or morality and ethics.  In addition, they cultivate a personal piety of church attendance, giving, service, ministry and Bible study.  In the most favorable sense, they possess a sanctimonious demeanor that others would like to emulate.  However, righteousness has very little to do with human behavior.  Plainly stated in theological terms, righteousness means to live in right relationship with God.  It stands to reason that establishing a relationship with the Holy and Heavenly Father means that we do not possess inherently any righteousness of our own.  Because we relate to Him with due humility and obedience, we share in His perfect nature.  His holy love and character spills over into our lives.  The gift of the Holy Spirit organically replaces our ingrained selfishness with a genuine desire to love God with our whole being and love others as we loves ourselves.  Developing righteousness emerges naturally out of the practice of spiritual disciplines: self-evaluation, prayer, affirmation of the Word of God, meditation, Bible study, imaging the fulfillment of the will of God, and daily devotion and worship of God.  These practices greatly enhance our desire and ability to understand and grow in the righteous example of our Lord.  Daily deepening a vibrant relationship with Him results in an authentic designation of righteous instead of the redundancy of ritual and religion.

The Lord Delivers the Righteous Psalm 37:23-40 Part Two

The Lord Delivers the Righteous 

Psalm 37:23-40 – Part Two

Interestingly, the pervasive promise of Psalm 37 should free us from jealousy.  If we truly accept the guarantee that God will always provide for the righteous and their children will never be found begging bread, then we have no need to compare our circumstances with anyone else.  It does not matter if our neighbor constantly buys new cars.  It should not arouse suspicion if our coworkers show up each day in new outfits.  It should be immaterial if our relatives regale us with the fascinating details of recent exotic trips each time we speak with them.  All of these experiences compel us to say “Praise the Lord.”  We can genuinely and freely be thankful for someone else’s blessings.  We know that God will not leave us or forsake us.  We know that He will not forget us.  God is not a respecter of persons.  Therefore, observing the good fortune of others should not dishearten us.  Instead, we rejoice with them for we know that our turn will come relative to our characters, choices, circumstances and consequences.

A good friend and colleague shares the necessity of staking in your lane in order to win a race.  Many runners make the fatal mistake of looking to the left and to the right in the midst of a competitive race.  That small amount of time and effort to analyze what their competitors are doing actually costs them the race.  Rather, they ought to stay in their lanes and focus unwaveringly upon the race that they are running.  Another common and dreadful error that runners make is looking behind them to see if another runner is gaining on them.  Again, the energy and attention required to assess another runner’s progress usually equates with the difference of determining the winners and losers.  This image from the practical world of track and field resembles the race of life as we pursue our God given goals and dreams.  Should we fall prey to the fallacy of constantly comparing ourselves to others, we will never be able to devote our energies and abilities to our singular and unique purposes.  Mostly, these comparisons result in jealousy which wastes incredible amounts of time and resources.  Yet, when we channel our abilities towards making the very best effort of which we are capable, then we realize the readily available divine favor and assistance that we have to succeed.  The Lord delivers the righteous.

This passage of this immortal contains numerous divine promises of deliverance.  “If the Lord delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm.”  Incidentally, the Lord would only find pleasure and grant His approval to a person’s choices if his or her character honors the holy love and character of Almighty God.  The Bible declares that God is light and in Him there is no darkness.  His holy essence cannot be contaminated by evil.  As a consequence, a person would have to respect God’s perfect purity, love and majesty in order to receive His sanction.  Nonetheless, as a righteous person, a man or woman has the assurance that God will lead him or her toward making the most beneficial and bountiful choices.  As a matter of fact, the psalmist states definitively that the Lord makes such a person’s steps firm.  Accordingly, “though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.”  What an amazing promise that this twenty-third verse offers!  God promises to redeem the mistakes and failures of the righteous.  Even if our self-centered fears, self-seeking motives and limitless egos combine to eventuate into drastic errors, the Lord will redirect us toward His purposes.  Practically speaking, He helps us to find the lessons in our errors.  When we humble ourselves to reach the instruction of His discipline, He prevents us from falling.  He prevents our misfortunes from becoming fatal.  Out of His lovingkindness, He catches us before we crash and harm ourselves.

The twenty-fifth verse is the one that we remember mostly.  Often, one overhears people paraphrasing some part of it.  Whereas the psalmist assures us that God will not forsake the righteous and their children will not be found begging for bread, a stark analysis of the world leads one to question significantly and appropriately the confidence of the Psalter.  The protracted violence, military conflicts and terrorism of the Middle East makes one wonder about this biblical assurance.  Can Palestinian Christians recite this verse with the flippant manner in which American Christians do as they profess that they are blessed and highly favored of the Lord?  Consider further the genocide of Darfur and the Sudan?  What about the intractable tribal conflicts of Somalia?  The entire continent of Africa suffers from the epidemic of HIV/AIDS.  More specifically, we must grapple with the hard reality that millions of the children of God go to bed each night hungry.  Should you travel to another country in the developing world, you see children begging for their daily bread.  Needless to say, I could cite countless other examples in today’s world that contradict the divine promise that the Psalter posits.  Nevertheless, I allude to these difficult ironies to shock us into thinking about the difficulty of resolving the world in which we live and biblical promises that we often verbalize robotically.

How do we reconcile these inconsistencies?  This question is another version of the age old theological dilemma of theodicy.  How do we resolve the existence of an all powerful, all kind, ever-present and all knowing Supreme Being with the evil in the world?  On a more practical level, how do we assert the statements of scripture with integrity and intellectual respectability given the geopolitical dynamics, social-political and social-economic realities that seem to eradicate the notion?

The Lord Delivers the Righteous Psalm 37:23-40 Part Three

The Lord Delivers the Righteous

Psalm 37:23-40 – Part Three

Last week, I posed several perplexing questions for North American Christians as we read the grand promises of this psalm.  We greet each with the automatic saying, “I’m blessed and highly favored of God.”  Also, we exchange the positive affirmation, “God is good.  All the time, God is good.”  These simplistic and perhaps even simpleton sayings insidiously cloak the fundamental reality that millions of Christians throughout the world cannot repeat these words with any honesty.  Again, consider the face the millions of God fearing and faithful believers go to bed hungry each night.  We Americans comprise one sixth of the world’s population but we consume a disproportionate amount of the earth’s resources.  Our luxuries occur at the direct expense of believers in the Third World and within the Pacific Rim.  The desire to wear T-shirts in the winter and ride around in gas guzzling sport utility vehicles comes at the behest of Christians who work for unconsciousable wages.  The average family of four in such situations lives on an annual income of fifteen hundred dollars ($1500).  Is not the Psalter wrong as he affirms, “I was young and now I am old and I have never seen the righteous forsaken and their children begging bread?”  Apparently, these brothers and sisters of the developing world seem to have been forgotten by the Lord and excluded from this grand and immortal promise of obedience.

I am very tempted to leave this question unanswered.  I think that we hasten, too often, to offer Pollyannaish replies to difficult contradictions between the Bible and daily life.  How do we reconcile the two?  Do we ask the enduring theological question about theodicy?  Why would an all-powerful, all-kind, ever-present, and all-knowing God allow such intractable inequity with regard to the distribution of the world’s resources?  Does God really possess the proactive and inherent power to alleviate pain and suffering?  Why does it continue in the light of God’s main and non-negotiable attributes?  You may proceed to offer your own version of this question of juxtaposing God’s eternal existence and infinite abilities with the perpetuation of evil in the world?  More specifically, how can God pledge His unfailing love, provision and protection of the righteous when so many of them seem forsaken by Him?

Assuredly, we cannot direct these questions to Almighty God.  Job, in the latter chapters of his book, discovers this fallacy.  Instead, the problem of the presence and persistence of evil is quintessentially a human one.  More directly, this question rightly haunts the people who profess to know the love of God.  Simply stated, the Church, generally, and individual disciples, specifically, must grapple with what it means to receive the love of Christ and the grace of Almighty God as He blesses us materially, economically and otherwise and our biblically mandated obligation to demonstrate this love tangibly with others.  How do we, in North America, reconcile our incalculable concrete blessings with the hard facts that we cause the hunger and suffering of so many people in the world?  Do these difficult contradictions of our Christian rhetoric and the reality of our acquiescence of the subjugation and dehumanization of so many of our fellow Christians disturb us?  Does it coerce us to re-examine our lifestyles and contributions to missions?  Straightforwardly, has our insatiable appetite for creature comforts evolved into a depth of greed that is simply evil?

A Pastor's heart - 1 Kings 3:16-28

A Pastor’s Heart – 1 Kings 3:16-28

I delivered this sermon in the fall of 2007 at a tense and critical juncture within the life of the congregation I was serving at the time.  Interestingly, this message foreshadows some of the most regrettable and unfortunate circumstances that emerged and resulted in my subsequent resignation within seven months.

Quite frankly, as a congregation and church family, we are headed for a collision course which will eventuate in an implosion of relationships.  Such an unfortunate occurrence will mar our ability and potential for successful ministry for many years into the future.  Only a genuine love for the Lord and for this Church will prevent this catastrophe.  The rising and persistent acrimony and rancor relating to the complexities and challenges of the Church Renovation Project threaten the very spiritual, emotional, relational and ministerial (in the collective sense of the word) of this congregation.  Lest we divide the baby, in this sense the heart of God, we, individually and collectively, must search our hearts to rediscover a sincere and selfless love and genuine willingness to serve and offer them to our Lord for His exclusive use and divine purposes at First Baptist Church Capitol Hill. 

Today, I would like to share transparently without any ulterior motive, self-seeking objective or self-centered fear what the Lord put upon my heart pertaining to our current challenges as a church family.  Fundamentally, our struggles are not against flesh and blood.  Were we able to assess and assign blame for our financial crisis, construction stoppage, renovation debacle, failure to do due diligence and internal governance strife with acute precision, we would not gain any progress in resolving any of these dilemmas.  Admittedly, many of us are very angry, hurt, afraid, disappointed, disillusioned, and depressed; in fact, some of us are probably downright disgusted with the whole process.  Regrettably, some of us have digressed to the normal pattern of such a predicament  by focusing upon the “right” persons to blame and then seeking to hold them accountable for causing this mess.  The length and depth of our dilemmas undoubtedly causes quite a bit of confusion.  Compounded with rumors, inaccuracies and fear, this bewilderment coerces us to turn against each other.  Charges and counter charges cross each other like the sparks of sharp blades between two dueling swords.  “Winning the fight” assumes the place of first priority in most people’s thinking.  As a consequence, we lose sight of the overall picture.  Instead of fighting against the principalities and powers that seek to defeat us, we erroneously determine that our fellow brothers and sisters personify the problems and we resolve to defeat them.

I appeal, pastorally and personally, to each any every one of us to search deeply within our hearts.  Do we really love the Lord with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength?  Do we love our neighbor as we love ourselves?  Do we genuinely and selflessly love First Baptist Church Capitol Hill?  Now, I must ask a few more questions which will be straightforward and difficult to articulate but nevertheless very necessary.  Has the love of our Lord and Savior truly and incontrovertibly pierced your heart?  In gratitude for Christ sacrificial and saving love, have you dedicated yourself to a life of service to others by sharing your resources of time, talent, tithe and temperament?  Can you think of an immediate example in which you daily endeavor to share the love of God in Christ with family, friends and others?  Is your love of First Baptist Church Capitol Hill contingent upon your will and personal preferences? 

Today’s text demonstrates a stark dilemma which only genuine and selfless love resolves.  I posit that the very same is necessary to triumph over the current circumstances that we face as a church family.  If each of us continues to insist that the rest of us must appease our personal desires, then we will succeed only in cutting the baby in half.  Let’s look more closely at this dramatic and provocative yet rather familiar passage of scripture.  Two women give birth within three days of each other.  They are alone in the same maternity ward.  No one else witnesses the tragedy of one of the new born babies dying in the middle of the night possibly because the mother inadvertently rolls over on the baby and smothers the baby to death.  The mother who accidentally smothers her baby to death deceitfully awakens and switches the babies as the other mother sleeps soundly.  In the morning, the sleeping mother awakens to find that her baby is dead!  Upon a closer examination of the baby, she realizes that this baby is not the one to whom she gave birth.  Actually, the living baby is her child and she proceeds to argue with the other mother in order to get her child back.

A Pastor's Heart - 1 Kings 3:16-28 Part II

A Pastor’s Heart – 1 Kings 3:16-28 Part II

The mothers take their case to King Solomon in order that he might properly adjudicate this conflict between them.  Again, you will recall that the mothers were alone on the maternity ward.  Before King Solomon, reputed to be the wisest man in the ancient world, these two mothers argue back and forth about the living baby.  Both of them insist that this living baby belongs to her.  Symbolically, these two babies represent two competing visions for this Church and its ministry as the twenty-first century unfolds.  What is the living vision for First Baptist Church Capitol Hill as we conclude the seventh year of the first decade of this century?  Are we relegated merely to reminisce about one great moment in time?  Is the living vision to nurse that legacy as far into the future as we can?  In contrast, is the living baby a new vision in which we define twenty-first century problems (the potential re-segregation of the public school system, adoption of the hundreds and thousands of children in state custody, the rise of abortion rates in the African-American community, capital punishment and its disproportionate use in relationship to African-American males, the prison industrial complex, the rise of HIV/AIDS among African-American women, to name a very few number of issues amongst the many that exists) that we are called to resolve with contemporary means and methods?  Which baby is the real living baby?  How do we determine which baby is alive?  How do we determine to which baby we are to give birth?  The answer is no easier for us than it was for these two competing mothers.  Just as they sought King Solomon’s wisdom, we similarly must seek the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.

On the second Sunday of next month, instead of gathering for another business meeting and a time inn which we hear a litany of complaints and accusations let us gather for the purpose of praying and seeking the counsel of the Word of God.  Would our church family come out of the wood work, like we did last Sunday, for the noble and most honorable purposes of asking for the wisdom of Almighty God in resolving our current strife?  Are we willing to humble ourselves before the very Creator of the universe and the Maker of all that is seen and unseen?  Shall we persist in the unproductive and divisive vain of self-reliance which will result in the splitting of the baby?  Will we commit two and a half hours to prayer, meditation and Bible study to find a resolution to the Church Renovation Project?

As the mothers argue profusely and vociferously between each other about the living baby, King Solomon determines a foolproof method of ascertaining the baby’s real mother.  He orders a sword to be brought to him.  He says that the living baby will be cut in half with each mother receiving fifty percent of the baby’s remains.  Were that dastardly deed to have occurred, it would have meant that both mothers would have lost one hundred percent in that both of them would have become childless!  Shockingly, one of the mothers actually agreed to this order.  “Neither I nor you shall have him.  Cut him in two!”  Let’s imagine what this woman’s heart looks like inside.  Consider the anger, bitterness, strife, hurt, disappointment, low self-esteem, fear and pain that must reside their in large quantities.  How could she possibly believe that cutting the baby in half would be an appropriate solution to this dilemma?  I submit that this woman’s harden heart symbolizes those of us at First Baptist Church Capitol Hill who insist upon having our way regardless of the consequences.  I find it incredibly difficult to understand the position of withholding my giving until my personal preferences are appeased without realizing that my actions create an artificial financial crisis that may harm other people and irreversibly wound the very Church that I claim to love?  If I take that stance today, what would prevent me from taking that same approach each and every time that someone does something with which I disagree?  Can I justly and honestly portend to care about my church family members and my Church if I am willing at any point to damage them through my failure to give time, service, money and commitment because they do not satisfy my emotional needs?

A Pastor's Heart - 1 Kings 3:16-28 Part III

A Pastor’s Heart – 1 Kings 3:16-28 Part III

The other mother whom we discover is the real mother of the living baby reveals an enduring answer to the debate about the child.  Out of her love for the living baby, she is willing to subordinate her rightful position in order to save him.  Her genuine love compels her to plead with King Solomon to spare the living baby.  “Please my lord, give her the living baby!  Don’t kill him!” This mother’s heart enables her to see the big picture.  Her love for her child triumphs over personal preferences and rights.  She sacrifices her legal right in order to spare her child’s life. She would rather have the child alive rather than dead in order to prevent the other fraudulent mother from having the baby.  This mother’s love empowers her to serve and sacrifice.  I imagine that in the crevices of her mind and the closets of her heart she harbors the prayers and thoughts that circumstances will reveal in time that she is the real mother of the living baby even if they were separated by this ordeal.  This woman’s powerful example of selfless love instructs us today to emulate her as we seek to save the living baby of our church family and congregation.

The love that we extend to our church family requires the daily practice of spiritual disciplines.  I remind us of the acronym, SPAMBID: self-evaluation, prayer, affirmation (of the Word of God), meditation, Bible study, imaging (faithful and positive future events) and daily quiet time and worship of Almighty God.  Quite possibly, there are more people praying for us throughout the city, state and country than we may be praying for ourselves.  In time, these spiritual disciplines will yield a harvest of practical results.  We will return to the basics of church membership and commitment.  We will attend worship regularly.  We will serve in the various ministries of the Church.  We will practice good financial stewardship and grow to the point of giving one tenth of our gross income inclusive of salary, investments, and all other sources of income.  We will attend one weekly Christian education session.  Beyond those fundamentals, we progress to determining our individual and distinct ministry within the Church and our mission outside in the larger world.  In addition to the foregoing church-wide prayer meeting, let us engage the congregational process of “Asset Mapping” in which we discern and discover the myriad gifts embodied within our fellow brothers and sisters.  In accordance with 1 Corinthians 12, we appreciate that the Church resembles the human body in that all parts are necessary in order for good health to result.  Nevertheless, the persistent practice of spiritual disciplines will yield the practical results that will eventuate in our success.

In closing, Oscar Wilde fairy tale, “The Nightingale and the Rose,” captures the thesis and essence of this sermon.  In this most challenging story, a philosophy student harbors a deep love for a young lady whom he invites to a forthcoming ball.  His passion consumes him.  He forsakes his books, study and cognitive passions to attempt to satisfy his boiling passions for this beautiful young lady.  She agrees to attend the ball with him under one condition.  He must find a red rose to match her gown.  The philosophy student immediately searches the adjacent gardens for a red rose identical in color and texture to his intended’s gown.  To his utter dismay and deepening grief, he cannot find a red rose.  In the garden, a nightingale, lizard, bees and other living creatures observe the student’s profound disappointment.  The lizard responds cynically and expresses disgust that the man would be so distraught about his failure to find a red rose when there perfectly appropriate white roses in the garden.  The bees demonstrate indifference in that they resolve that it is simply unfortunate that there are no red roses though it would be nice if there were and the young could be happy.  In contrast, the nightingale flies over to the rose brush and inquires about the possibility of creating the red rose.  The bush replies that the only way to produce a red rose is for the nightingale to sing as melodiously as possible while piercing her heart with a thorn.  The bird’s blood will stain the white roses and produce a perfectly red one.  After some thought, the nightingale decides to offer her life as a sacrifice in order to produce the red rose so that the philosophy student may find true love.  The bird returns to the rose bush, positions her chest against a thorn, begins to sing and pushes against the thorn as blood drips from her chest.  The rose bush reminds the nightingale twice to move closer and closer still to the thorn so that her heart may be sufficiently pierced and that an adequate amount of blood my flow.

Eulogy - "Living in the Shadow of the Almighty God - Psalm 91

With Praise and Thanksgiving to Almighty God

for the Life, Love and Legacy

of the late

Deacon Albert O. Williams, DDS

“Living in the Shadow of the Almighty God” 

Psalm 91:1-16

Saturday, 29 December 2007

As we celebrate the life of the late Deacon Albert O. Williams, we reflect upon the myriad ways in which Almighty God sows the seeds of providence in our lives.  On many occasions, Deacon Williams shared the story of his very humble beginnings on a small farm in Texas.  He was the youngest of multiple siblings.  At fifteen years of age, he circumstantially had to begin to chart his course in life.  He fondly recalled how he did so with his beloved mother’s blessings.  Education would become the vehicle for accomplishing his dreams and goals.  Without any concrete idea of how he would obtain this goal, he harbored the ambition of becoming a dentist.  Trusting in the goodness of Almighty God and affirming the necessity of a positive outlook in life, Deacon Williams set out in pursuit of his dreams by enrolling in an adjacent college.  In his words, “I did not know how I was going to make it.”  Yet, he was determined to succeed.  More significantly, in retrospect, he discovered pebbles along his path that our loving Heavenly Father had dropped in order to direct Deacon Williams toward God’s ultimate purpose for his life. 

While some people may characterize Deacon William’s story as average, actually, it is remarkable because of the elements of divine orchestration in the plot of his life.  Additionally, the life of the late Albert O. Williams is particularly an American story in which an African-American male born to a large family in a humble setting achieves professional distinction as a dentist and deacon within his local church.  His journey encourages the ordinary person because it reminds us that God’s unquestionable faithfulness miraculously transforms daily choices toward divine objectives.  Thereby, the average person becomes an overwhelming success relative to his or her goals, dreams, potential, discipline, application and natural endowments. 

After leaving Texas and graduating with a degree from the precursor to Texas Southern University, which was not an accredited institution at the time, Deacon Williams came to Nashville.  He then enrolled in Tennessee State University where he obtained both bachelors and master’s degrees in chemistry.  Subsequent to earning those degrees, he taught at Prairie View Agricultural & Mechanical College.  There, he would meet the love of his wife, the late Dr. Marion Williams, with whom he would share forty-two years of holy matrimony.  An inexplicable college rule at the time prevented a husband and wife from both simultaneously serving on the faculty.  That regulation led the Williams to move to Montgomery, AL where they taught at Alabama A& M College for a year. 

Fascinatingly, that year was 1955!  They attended Dexter Avenue Baptist Church during the height of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which formally began the national Civil Rights Movements.  The Williams drove cars in the year in which the Black residents of Montgomery boycotted the buses in order to coerce the transportation line to grant them equal and respectful treatment for their fares.  Deacon Williams, although he could never have imagined it when he left Texas, took particular delight in sharing this story of his participation in one of the most significant events in twentieth century American history.  Each “MLK Sunday,” he would remind me that he had worked with Martin Luther King, Jr. in “the great things that he did.”  As a high school history student reading about the Montgomery Bus Boycott, specifically, and the Civil Rights Movement, generally, I wondered would names ever be attached to the countless persons who made such great sacrifices.  Personally, as an inheritor and beneficiary of that great labor of love, I am gratified to pay the debt of attaching the names of Albert O. and Marion Williams to the list of African-American forebears who bore their burdens in the heat of the day in order to make a more just and equal way for a future generation.  Nevertheless, let us consider the way in which the seeds of providence led the Williams to Montgomery to fulfill a divine appointment.

During the year that Williams spent in Montgomery, a possibility opened that Deacon Williams might attend the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa to earn a Ph. D. degree in Chemistry.  The University had recently enrolled its first African-American in the graduate school.  Yet, Deacon Williams’ heartfelt goal of becoming a dentist overshadowed this prospect.  As he told the story, it was his beloved wife, Dr. Marion Williams, reminded him of the reality that he wanted to be a dentist more so than a chemist.  That conversation led to their ultimate move to Nashville in 1956 where he enrolled at Meharry Dental School.  He would accomplish his lifelong dream and proceed to a lengthy career of practicing dentistry for forty-two years as well as teaching on the Dental School faculty for many years.

In 1969, Albert O. Williams was ordained to the Diaconate at First Baptist Church Capitol Hill.  He served with distinction for nearly thirty-eight years, electing emeritus status in 2002.  Each year, he hosted a special fellowship meal for his watch care members.  Should any of them experience bereavement or illness, Deacon Williams expeditiously responded to calls notifying him of their needs.  He diligently visited local hospitals to visit with his watch care members and faithfully made trips to their homes when requested and needed. 

Additionally, Deacon Williams was known affectionately as the “Father of the 8:00am Worship Service.”  He took great pride in its continuance beyond the pastoral tenure of the late Kelly Miller Smith, Sr.  Excluding extreme physical illness or his absence from Nashville, Deacon Williams arrived at FBCCH at 7:45am each Sunday until he began to experience a decline in his health.  Moreover, Deacon Williams particularly liked the order of service of the first service.  He often quoted Paul’s admonition that Almighty God is a God of order and desires that all matters be executed in decency and in order.  He took a proprietary interest in the liturgy and details of the 8:00am worship experience.

Let’s join in an imaginary delight of the grand reunion that occurred on Thursday night when he joined his beloved wife, the late Dr. Marion Williams.  Together, as perfect brothers and sisters in the Lord, they can share eternity in worship and praise of our Lord.  By all accounts, most especially his, Deacon Williams considered his late wife to be the apple of his eye.  I posit that all of us found encouragement in the way in which he adoringly spoke of her and the very high regard in which he held her and her memory.  As we rejoice in his total healing from illness and liberation from the limitations of human life, let us also celebrate his joy of reunion and ability to serve our Lord forevermore.

The life of Deacon Williams again demonstrates how Almighty God uses ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary feats.  As that gospel song suggests, “Little becomes much when you place it in the Master’s hands.”  Merely living under the shadow of Almighty God offers incredible assurance to the average person.  From the resounding opening verse in Psalm 91, this passage assures any believing and committed individual of a number of divine promises and protections.  God’s very presence shall be a refuge and a fortress from the adversities of life.  God’s faithfulness will shield you from any deadly pestilence.  You will not “fear the terror of night” nor any assaults during the day.  What an amazing promise given the current turbulence of our nation and world!  Moreover, underneath the shadow of God’s presence, you will watch your enemies fall to the left and the right.  Amazingly, God “will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.”  Accordingly, you will have unqualified protection in the affairs of life.  “Because he loves me, says the Lord, I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.”  Finally, in agreement with the Psalter, Deacon Williams would encourage us with a recitation of the sixteenth verse.  “With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.” 

Amusingly, Deacon Williams would state his age by saying “I’m forty-one going on eighty-three.  The Lord has blessed me all these many years.” His life reflected the blessings of being in the shadow of Almighty God.  It more significantly demonstrates the mystical and majestic ways in which the Lord uses willing servants in the midst of the mundane activities of life.  I understand that Deacon Williams’ death crystallized in a nap. Soundly asleep, he slowly and surely slipped into eternal rest.  This blessed rest is the reward of the righteous who dwells in the shadow of the Almighty God.  Deacon Williams’ assurance challenges us to find a similar peace within the pervasive turbulence of our world.  Intractable terrorism, political assassinations of heads of states, nuclear proliferation, environmental disasters, all, combine to frighten greatly the average person.  Finding peace seems impossible. Nevertheless, the Psalter and the life of Deacon Williams nullify this negativism.  Instead, they remind us that peace is available perpetually for those persons who choose to live in the shadow of the Almighty God.