50 Years Later

During the summer of 1963 the United States was in the midst of the Civil Rights movement.  Many important things happened during that time.  President John F. Kennedy sent the National Guard to the University of Alabama on June 10^th to help black students enroll there despite the objections by the governor at that time, George Wallace.  Medgar Evers, the first Mississippi field secretary for the NAACP was shot to death at his home on June 12, 1963.  Later that summer, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led the historic march on Washington, DC on August 28, 1963. 

Were you alive in 1963?  Do you remember how things were back then in your neighborhoods, in your churches?  Have things changed?

In many ways the Civil Rights movement has made great strides in the United States.  But in many ways we still have a long way to go.  Prejudice, discrimination, and racist attitudes are still a big part of our world and even among the Body of Christ.  The Apostle Paul reminds us that “there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28) 

Spend some time this summer pondering what that means for you and your life.  Take time to read about the life of the courageous people who led the Civil Rights movement.  How can you continue what has been started in your life and in your church?