My sermon on January 15, 2023 at Bluegrass United Church of Christ in Lexington, Kentucky on the occasion of the church’s twelfth anniversary and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
The audio is available at kennybishop.com/podcast or on your favorite podcasting service.
Matthew 14: 22-32 (CEB)
…Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead to the other side of the lake while he dismissed the crowds. When he sent them away, he went up onto a mountain by himself to pray. Evening came and he was alone. Meanwhile, the boat, fighting a strong headwind, was being battered by the waves and was already far away from land. Very early in the morning he came to his disciples, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified and said, “It’s a ghost!” They were so frightened they screamed.
Just then Jesus spoke to them, “Be encouraged! It’s me. Don’t be afraid.” Peter replied, “Lord, if it’s you, order me to come to you on the water.” And Jesus said, “Come.”
Then Peter got out of the boat and was walking on the water toward Jesus. But when Peter saw the strong wind, he became frightened. As he began to sink, he shouted, “Lord, rescue me!”
Jesus immediately reached out his hand and grabbed him, saying, “You man of weak faith! Why did you begin to have doubts?” When they got into the boat, the wind settled down.
1891 in the United States:
Benjamin Harrison is president.
The Wrigley Company is founded and would become the largest manufacturer and marketer of chewing gum in the world.
The Music Hall which would eventually be known as Carnegie Hall had its first public performance. Tchaikovsky was the guest conductor.
The very first escalator was installed at the Old Iron Pier at Coney Island in New York City.
Also in 1891, in October of that year to be a little more specific, the Rev. B. Gunner arrived in Lexington all the way from Boston to join others in establishing the First Congregational Church of Lexington.
Rev. Gunner was part of the American Missionary Association based in Boston. There were a lot of recently freed slaves coming to Lexington, and he knew it would be important for them and their children get a good education. So, he came to help start a church that would work to that end.
Their first meetings took place in a hall downtown on Short Street. Over the years, the church would move around to other properties around downtown Lexington.
The church and congregation would join with other organizations that had also been established to help the former slaves. One written history tells that, “Together they would open schools for Negro children and help their parents and families find good work.”
After several name changes over the years, the First Congregational Church of Lexington would eventually become Emmanuel United Church of Christ.
Emmanuel UCC had times of incredible growth and success and it had its share of struggles. It came close to shuttering several times over the course of its life, only to be reinvigorated and renewed by the energy of new and motivated leadership.
In 1969, Rev. Michael Curry was pastor of Emmanuel. Before there was a parking lot or a building, he and the people of his congregation stood right here on this property where we are now and envisioned a place to gather, sing, pray, serve, and worship. There may not have been anything else, but for Rev. Curry and the people of Emmanuel there was hope, and there was a vision.
Right here, with nothing more than trees and weeds and overgrown ground, Rev. Curry expressed that vision to the people of Lexington. He told them, “I foresee a truly integrated church composed of persons from all ethnic groups, doing a new thing (in the liberal tradition.)”
It would be two years later before that vision would become a reality. But finally, in June of 1971, construction got underway. In March of the following year, a brand new building was dedicated. We’re sitting in it now.
Two years after that, the new “educational wing” was built. For several years, what is now our fellowship hall and community space was the Little People Day Care Center. It provided child care for single parents and others who needed help in that way.
Over time things began to decline for Emmanuel. Attendance dropped off, finances couldn’t keep up, and finally, in the early 2010s, the UCC denomination was forced to lock the church’s doors.
At the same time Emmanuel was struggling, a new work was beginning across town. Rev. Marsha Moors-Charles was pioneering a new congregation that was meeting in the chapel at the Lexington Theological Seminary. With its first service on January 9, 2011, Bluegrass United Church of Christ began the journey of finding its feet and growing into a forward-thinking, dynamic, and diverse congregation.
In 2013 the church got word that the seminary property had been sold and they’d have to find another place to hold services.
Some of us remember well the first time we were told about the property here on Don Anna Drive. None of us knew where that was. But the folks at UCC headquarters wanted us to take a look and give serious thought to making the property our new church home.
It’s hard to describe what we found when we arrived. The property was overgrown. As a matter of fact, “overgrown” is not a sufficient description. It was overtaken. It would take days and massive amounts of hard, hard work and plenty of funds to make it halfway presentable.
The inside had been abandoned too. Ruptured plumbing, rotting timbers, broken almost everything… seeing where we are now; if you hadn’t seen it then, you just wouldn’t believe it.
Even with the building and the property being in the dire shape it was in, Marsha and the people of BUCC decided that 500 Don Anna Drive would be their new home. But the move would require a thoughtful approach because, even though the doors had been locked for some time, we knew we were moving into someone else’s home. UCC leadership asked Marsha to meet with what was left of Emmanuel’s congregation. The meeting did not go well. There were two main reasons,
Emmanuel had strong ties to and a rich history with Lexington’s black church community. Marsha was not black.
And even though the United Church of Christ as a denomination was well known for its strong support of the LGBTQ+ community, the churches that make up the organization are autonomous and not required to agree with that thinking. Emmanuel did not agree, and Marsha was a lesbian. As a matter of fact, not all, but a good number of the folks who made up the Bluegrass United Church of Christ congregation identified as LGBTQ or other.
Some of Emmanuel’s folks simply said no. They wouldn’t stand in the way of our church taking up residence, but they would not support it or attend. Although not everyone who belonged to Emmanuel supported amalgamating our two congregations, some did. Miss Hattie and Miss Elnora became two of the most encouraging and supportive members this church has ever had. They, along with our original church mom, our beautiful Mama Jean, became our church matriarchs. Wow, how we miss them all now.
After months of incredibly hard work to get the place and the property ready, on December 1st, 2013, the first Sunday of Advent, Emmanuel United Church of Christ and Bluegrass United Church of Christ became one. One church traced its roots all the way back to 1891, the other was an infant in comparison. But baby or not, we are thrilled this week to celebrate twelve wonderful years of loving God’s way.
Since our beginning in 2011, we’ve helped build Habitat houses, we’ve packed and delivered thousands of meals for school children, we’ve marched for women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, the rights of immigrants and refugees, and others who have been marginalized and mistreated.
We’ve sponsored community events around downtown, we’ve joined ourselves in solidarity with leaders and members of other faith traditions and religions, we’ve led and been involved with public prayer vigils, provided warm clothes and blankets for the unhomed, furniture and household items for foreign refugees and resources for struggling families.
For twelve years we’ve been loving God’s way by opening our doors to the rejected, the injured, the traumatized, the scared, the angry, the questioning. We’ve listened to their heartaches, hugged them through their trauma, and given them room and time to heal.
For twelve years we’ve offered ourselves as a place where everyone can come as they are, find what they need, and let God’s love do its work.
If we’re honest, over these last twelve years there have been times we’ve been kinda scared - and sometimes not just a little bit. We’d get nervous, the wind would blow, the boat would rock, we’d wonder if we were about to go under.
We’d hunker down, pray, search for some thing or some words that would reassure and inspire us. Then we’d hear him. “Be encouraged,” he says. “It’s me. Don’t be afraid.”
Back in the early 1930s, a man named Thomas Dorsey was suffering inconsolable grief. He’d just lost his wife and infant son, and the sense of loss he felt was immeasurable.
In his grief, he penned the words of a song that were as much a plea and a prayer as anything else:
When my way grow drear, precious Lord, linger near, when my light is almost gone. Hear my cry, hear my call, hold my hand lest I fall. Take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home.
It was a song of desperation.
A friend of Dorsey’s passed the song to a friend of his, a pastor in Atlanta, Georgia. Martin Luther King, Sr. was pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church. He fell in love with the song and immediately it became one of his favorites.
His son fell in love with it too. At his rallies and demonstrations across the country, Martin Luther King, Jr. would invite gospel music queen and legend Mahalia Jackson to sing it in hopes that it would inspire the activists in their fight for what was right.
MLK himself found something empowering in the song.
When the darkness appears and the night draws near, and the day is almost gone. At the river I stand, guide my feet, hold my hand. Take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home.
For Martin Luther King, and all of us really, the song hearkens back to that early morning with Jesus’ frightened followers in a storm-tossed boat. The elements, the darkness, their surroundings brought them fear, then he extended his hand.
Take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home.
On the evening of April 4th 1968, Dr. King and several others were standing on their hotel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee. Jazz musician Ben Branch was one of them. As they discussed the event they were about to attend that evening, Dr. King said, “Ben, make sure you play ‘Take My Hand, Precious Lord’ in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty.”
Those were Martin Luther King Jr’s last words.
Dr. King wanted in 1968 what the disciples wanted on that lake in ancient time. He wanted what the founders of Emmanuel United Church of Christ wanted in 1891 and again in 1969. We wanted it at our beginning in 2011 and twelve years later it’s still what we want.
We want to hear him say it. When we’re unsure and uncertain about things, when the clouds are stirring and doubt is mounting, we want to read it from the pages again and again - we want to hear it from his lips.
“Be encouraged! Don’t be afraid. Take my hand.”