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Glasgow, Scotland
Words are formed by experiences, and words inform our experiences. Words also transform life and the world. I am a writer and Presbyterian minister who grew up in the 1960's in the segregated South of the United States. I've lived in Alaska, the Washington, DC area, and Minnesota. Since 2004 I've lived in Glasgow, Scotland, where I enjoy working on my second novel and serving churches that are between one thing and another. I advocate for the full inclusion of all people in the church and in society, whatever our genders or sexual orientations. Every body matters.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

One Day


One Day

On the third Monday of January, the birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is observed in the USA. This year will mark the 50th anniversary of his nation-altering “I have a dream” speech in Washington, D.C.

Here are some words of Dr. King [quoted in Kathleen A. Guy’s Welcome the Child: A Child Advocacy Guide for Churches (Washington, DC: Children’s Defense Fund, 1991), p. 113] that I happened upon this week for the very first time. They sound especially appropriate as each one of us takes stock of our peace-making skills in today’s world:

“One day, youngsters will learn words they will not understand.
Children from India will ask: What is hunger?
Children from Alabama will ask: What is racial segregation?
Children from Hiroshima will ask: What is the atomic bomb?
Children at school will ask: What is war?
– dare we add: What is a gun? –
You will answer them.
You will tell them:
These words are not used any more
like stage coaches, galleys or slavery
Words no longer meaningful.
That is why they have been removed from dictionaries.”

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