MEMPHIS continuedSunday, January 20Participants were invited to attend downtown churches during the Sunday morning worship hour. Presbyterians went to First Presbyterian Church, where GA Moderator Jack Rogers was preaching or to Idlewild Presbyterian Church where Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick was the guest preacher. At 4:00, the "National Act of Worship Inaugurating Churches Uniting in Christ" began at Mt. Olive Cathedral of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. Those who crowded into this big sanctuary were treated to magnificent music in an acoustically perfect space. A massed choir from Memphis area churches, a handbell choir from Evergreen Presbyterian, the Miracle Apostolic Temple Choir, instrumental and vocal soloists made the occasion a special blessing. (If we can make such beautiful music together, we can probably make CUIC a blessing as well.) Denominational leaders confessed the sins of their respective communions, such matters as anger, excessive wealth, racism, indifference. The sermon by Bishop McKinley Young of the African Methodist Episcopal Church was greeted with applause and a standing ovation. "This is our finest hour," he said. "Don't blow it." Monday, January 21When a big outdoor event is planned, people do worry about the weather. It had been announced that the Monday march through downtown Memphis would take place, whatever the weather. In Tennessee in January, it could be hot or cold or raining or snowing. It turned out to be cold but the sun was shining gloriously. A perfect day for a march. We could forget about the weather and concentrate on the reason for the march. Could this day, the birthday of a man who had been assassinated in Memphis in 1968 after leading a march in support of sanitation workers, could this very day be the beginning of the end of racism? As we, a thousand of us, black, white and brown, followed city and church leaders from City Hall to the Lorraine Motel, there were possibilities for progress and ideas and ideals were in the air. We passed the tourist landmarks: Beale Street, the Peabody Hotel, a big red neon ELVIS sign, but this was not a crowd of tourists. These were pilgrims on their way to a shrine. The first glimpse we had of the Lorraine Motel looked like what it has become, the National Civil Rights Museum. But on the back side of the building, the infamous balcony where Dr. King was shot is there as a grim reminder. That balcony is where church leaders gathered to sign a pledge to end racism in the CUIC denominations.
The crowd was probably thinking that actions will speak louder than words in the days and years to come. They listened intently to all the speeches and mini-sermons, but as Marj Carpenter would say, I was proud to be a Presbyterian when applause broke out twice during Clifton Kirkpatrick's speech. Maybe they were resonating to the Southern accent of someone who grew up in Memphis; but I think they also heard sincerity and deep meaning in the intentions he voiced. Listening to him that day, I could see Presbyterians leading the way in CUIC to banish racism. It was a young crowd, some of them children and teenagers in school and church groups. Some were in a stroller or carried on a parent's shoulder. I was reminded of the words of Scottish poet Robert Burns, whose birthday would be celebrated the same week: "Somewhere a child is taking notes." Willie Herenton was a young boy in the crown who heard Martin Luther King speak in Memphis in 1968. Today he is the Mayor of Memphis. Perhaps 40 years from now, a young person in today's crowd can say: "Dr. King had a dream and the dream has come true."
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