Over the course of my life I have heard an untold number of orators who delivered memorable and stirring speeches: Ministers of every denomination, male and female, delivered them, Black and White, motivational speakers, politicians, street persons and even con men.
I may be in the minority when I state that Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech is not his greatest speech. I personally have always believed that the speech he delivered the day prior to his assassination, “I have been to the mountain top,” was his greatest. However this week’s column is not about speech making, but rather about the fact the “I have a dream” speech was made 52 years ago. The time is long overdue for us to focus on making the dream a reality instead of waiting for Dr. King’s National Holiday to have programs.
Often I am not sure what I, not just want to write, but what I need to write, and someone or something generally occurs that directs my thought process. Last Sunday I was in attendance at the historic Grace Memorial Presbyterian Church to participate in the service and also to celebrate the 100th birthday of Mrs. Delores Redwood. The guest minister was a person who was grounded in Grace Memorial Presbyterian Church, Rev. Eugene Blackwell, and his sermon was a message that was not only delivered well it was needed, mandated and extremely appropriately titled “The audacity to be strong”.
Rev. Blackwell could not have selected a more deserving church to deliver his message. Grace Memorial Presbyterian epitomizes “the audacity to be strong”. The founder was Henry Hiland Garnet; Pastor Emeritus Rev. Johnnie Monroe; the late Robert Lavelle; Mrs. Delores Redwood and Rev. Ron Peters, theologian in residence.
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