I saw in the Trib-star a few weeks ago that Bishop Tino Smith was going to have a special Black History meeting at his congregation. He promoted it as a time to declare that the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King had now been fulfilled. He was referring to the election of Barak Obama to the presidency. He invited several caucasion pastors to come and celebrate with him and his congregation.
I was of course interested in this meeting because of my involvement with my friend pastor Terry Clark before the election in a public discussion of race and politics. I emailed Terry to see if he was attending. He told me he was. That did it for me, I was going.
The evening was attended by about 80 people; with three caucasion pastors, and the Mayor Duke Bennett. There were several speakers sharing what the election of an African American to the presidency meant to them. Each was well done and had some great historical moments pointed out.
Bishop Tino Smith gave the main address and asserted that a “great reproach had been taken away” with the election of Barak Obama. Much like in the O.T. when sin was covered by atonement. I am not sure this is the case, but it is an interesting assertion for sure! The spiritual overtones of the election were highlighted in many different connections to Dr. King and his dream.
The highlight of the night was with pastor Smith, a strong proponent of protest, said that protest was no longer the tool of unity in Terre Haute. Only spiritual power can bring about unity. Amen to that! Then he brought pastor Keith Taylor up and in a sense laid a mantle of leadership upon him to help with this great unity charge. Pastor Keith has an African American worship pastor and has been a great model in unity. He then invited pastor Clark, pastor Linda Jo Peters and myself to come up. We sang, we prayed and we proclaimed an new day in Terre Haute.
I must say, it was moving and it was significant. I am a little sad that, as usual in our city, the crowd was small and the number of pastors was few. But sometimes things begin small. Maybe this will be a mustard seed of faith to start a huge new day of unity. Please make it so Lord Jesus!
