Rosa Parks Passes
Rosa Parks passed away yesterday at the age of 92. In December of 1955, this Montgomery seamstress refused to give up her bus seat in the "white" section of the city bus and was arrested. Her simple act of civil disobedience launched a turning point in the civil rights movement. She represents the power of the unlikely hero--the person who does the right thing, in spite of the likely consequences.
At her trial she lost, was convicted, and lost the appeal. According to her attorney, Fred Gray the trial took only 30 minutes. But that brief trial launched a movement and a set of ideal that still reverberates with the foundational cry of freedom. May she rest in peace.
Carson Reed
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A TRIBUTE TO ROSA PARKS
December 1, 1955
An ordinary day
An ordinary person
A commonplace city
With time honored custom
Awaken tired
From burdens borne too long
Unconscious of their magnitude
Breakfasting and customary leavetakings
Time to catch the bus
Board and pay the fare
Like every day before
With the sign always present
"This Section for People of the Colored Race"
Enough is Enough!
Today I will not move.
"If you don't get up, I'll have to arrest you."
"You do what you have to do."
And Montgomery, Alabama
And the world
Would never be the same again
Because of the uncommonly courageous response
Of an ordinary person
On an ordinary day
In a commonplace city
With time honored custom
Like veterans of World War II, the frontline participants of the American Civil Rights are passing from our midst. Ms. Parks civil disobedience took place the year I was born.
It's interesting to reflect on the aging characters of that era. We celebrate and honor Rosa Parks, Ralph David Abernathy, and others - and we also see Edgar Ray Killen brought to justice at last, along with Byron de la Beckwith and other aging racist extremists.
But what about all those off the stage? I wonder how many families have had the "What did you do in the civil rights struggle?" conversation between older and younger generations. I'm afraid for many white families, the answer to that question is "Nothing much."
That's certainly true for many of our institutions, including many churches and church-affiliated organizations. My wife was at Lipscomb in the early seventies, and remembers seeing the word "Colored" coming through the white paint of a bathroom door in one of the main campus buildings.
Why bring up such a downer in the midst of these inspiring reflections on Rosa Parks? Because "time honored custom" can be an insidious thing, and it often lulls the church into indifference and inaction. What are the time honored customs of today that we aren't addressing - or are even perpetuating?
In the army we have a process called "backward planning" where we imagine the end, then try to determine what it would take to get there. That's not too different than what other groups do I suppose. Is there any way to do this with our faith - determine what the good end of a thing should look like, then figure out step by step what it would take to arrive at that desired destination?
And I think we can apply these ideas to faith, as individuals and as congregations. Focusing on the outcome we seek could help us cut through the controversies and comfort zones (and time honored customs) of our present circumstances.
The challenge to applying these ideas to faith is that backwards planning or outcomes based management are "human centric" concepts - we set the goals, we make the decisions, we monitor progress. Faith puts God in charge of defining the outcomes, and directing our steps to reach them. We can apply these ideas, but perhaps as vehicles to help us take God's direction.