When Sunday Morning Wasn’t Safe
Stares on Monday.
Threats on Tuesday.
Harassings on Wednesday.
Beatings on Thursday.
Arrests on Friday.
Lynchings on Saturday.
Sunday, surely Sunday, should be safe. Yes, Sunday with the saints, sitting in the sanctuary, singing songs, submerging in the sermon, sinking deeper in the Scriptures, speaking of the Sovereign Savior.
Sunday…Sunday will be safe!
But, it wasn’t.
As the clock struck 10:24 a.m. on September 15th, 1963, the 16th Street Baptist Church went up in smoke. This was no accidental fire nor the consequence of bad wiring. No, this was birthed from the hearts of bigotry found in the members of the Ku Klux Klan. So malicious, so intentional was their hatred that they struck at the heart of hope in the lives of this community, for it was there that Black and Brown people of Birmingham, Alabama found refuge. The God of compassion and of justice was proclaimed in her walls, calling those who were worn and weary to enter into her doors for rest. This building and congregation served as a haven for men, women, children, and as a headquarters for the Civil Rights Movement. As the heavy rod of oppression was weighed upon their backs throughout the week, Sunday was a day of escape. Yet, in just a second, the safety of Sunday seemed to dissipate as the bomb’s loud explosion roared on 16th Street.
16th Street Baptist Church
“Jesus loves me this I know” was drowned out and replaced with screams.
Pages that read “Love thy neighbor” were swallowed in flames.
Hallways of harmony were soon caved in and crushed by the exploding chaos of racism.
As a result, four precious girls lost their lives. We remember Addie Mae Collins, Carol Denise McNair, Cynthia Diane Wesley, and Carole Robertson.
Reflecting back on this event, for many, Sunday still does not feel safe. We remember and mourn this tragedy and pray comfort is found in the walls of church buildings again. May open arms, tearful eyes, and Gospel words be ever the state of our churches, and let Sunday be safe and devoid of any prejudice, bias, and factor that would dare devalue an Image Bearer.
“They have something to say to every minister of the gospel who has remained silent behind the safe security of stained-glass windows. They have something to say to every politician who has fed his constituents with the stale bread of hatred and the spoiled meat of racism. They have something to say to a federal government that has compromised with the undemocratic practices of southern Dixiecrats and the blatant hypocrisy of right-wing northern Republicans. They have something to say to every Negro who has passively accepted the evil system of segregation and who has stood on the sidelines in a mighty struggle for justice. They say to each of us, black and white alike, that we must substitute courage for caution. They say to us that we must be concerned not merely about who murdered them, but about the system, the way of life, the philosophy which produced the murderers. Their death says to us that we must work passionately and unrelentingly for the realization of the American dream.”
