Bible connection
“Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” — Matthew 13:18-23
All about John Lewis (1940-2020)
Lewis, one of the original thirteen Freedom Riders who left Washington DC on May 4, 1961.
John Robert Lewis was born outside of Troy, Alabama, on February 21, 1940. He was the happy, hardworking child of sharecroppers. But as a fourteen-year-old he chafed against the unfairness of segregation as the Supreme Court ruling in 1954’s Brown v. The Board of Education didn’t affect his school life. After hearing Martin Luther King’s sermons and news of the 1955-56 Montgomery bus boycott Lewis was inspired to act for the changes he wanted to see.
In 1957, Lewis left Alabama to attend the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee. There, he learned about nonviolent protest and helped to organize sit-ins at segregated lunch counters. This led to his first of many arrests.
He went on to become among the first to participate in the Freedom Rides of 1961. These bus rides challenged the segregated facilities at interstate bus terminals in the South, which had been deemed illegal by the Supreme Court. He was arrested and beaten.
In 1963, Lewis became chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. That same year, as one of the “Big Six” leaders of the civil rights movement, he helped plan the March on Washington. Lewis, the youngest speaker at the event, had to alter his speech in order to please other organizers, but still delivered a powerful oration that declared, “We want our freedom and we want it now….We all recognize the fact that if any radical social, political and economic changes are to take place in our society, the people, the masses, must bring them about.”
After the March on Washington, in 1964, the Civil Rights Act became law but it did not make it easier for Black people to vote in the South. So Lewis and Hosea Williams led a march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, on March 7, 1965. After crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the marchers were attacked by state troopers. Lewis was severely beaten once more, this time suffering a fractured skull. The violent attacks were recorded and disseminated throughout the country, and the images proved too powerful to ignore. “Bloody Sunday,” as the day was labeled, sped up the passage of 1965’s Voting Rights Act.
Lewis left the SNCC in 1966. Though devastated by the assassinations of Dr. King and Robert Kennedy in 1968, Lewis continued his work to enfranchise minorities. In 1970, he became director of the Voter Education Project. During his tenure, the VEP helped to register millions of minority voters.
Lewis ran for office himself in 1981, winning a seat on the Atlanta City Council. In 1986, he was elected to the House of Representatives. Representing Georgia’s 5th District, becoming one of the most respected members of Congress.
As a congressman, he worked for healthcare reform, measures to fight poverty and improvements in education. Most important, he oversaw multiple renewals of the Voting Rights Act. When the Supreme Court struck down part of the law in 2013’s Shelby County v. Holder, Lewis decried the decision as a “dagger into the heart” of voting rights.
In the wake of the mass shooting that took place on June 12, 2016, in Orlando, Florida, Lewis led a sit-in comprised of approximately 40 House Democrats on the floor of the House of Representatives on June 22nd in an attempt to bring attention and force Congress to address gun violence by taking definitive legislative action. “We have been too quiet for too long,” Lewis said. “There comes a time when you have to say something. You have to make a little noise. You have to move your feet. This is the time.” He did not get what he wanted, but he never gave up. And he never gave up his remarkable love as he did it.
Lewis also spoke out against the presidency of Donald Trump. On Meet the Press he said he didn’t believe Trump was a “legitimate president” because of Russian interference in the election. Trump responded on Twitter, criticizing Lewis’ work as a congressman and tweeting that Lewis was “All talk, talk, talk – no action or results. Sad!” The president-elect’s attack came just days before the Martin Luther King holiday, and prompted vocal support of the civil rights icon across social media. He decided to boycott the inauguration. Trump continued his war of words, tweeting: “John Lewis said about my inauguration, ‘It will be the first one that I’ve missed.’ WRONG (or lie)! He boycotted Bush 43 also because he…thought it would be hypocritical to attend Bush’s swearing-in….he doesn’t believe Bush is the true elected president. Sound familiar!”A spokeswoman for Lewis confirmed that he had missed the inauguration of George W. Bush: “His absence at that time was also a form of dissent. He did not believe the outcome of that election, including the controversies around the results in Florida and the unprecedented intervention of the U.S. Supreme Court, reflected a free, fair and open democratic process.”
In December 2019, Lewis announced that he had been diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
Quotes
- You are a light. You are the light. Never let anyone—any person or any force—dampen, dim or diminish your light … Release the need to hate, to harbor division, and the enticement of revenge. Release all bitterness. Hold only love, only peace in your heart, knowing that the battle of good to overcome evil is already won. — Across That Bridge: A Vision for Change and the Future of America
- Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.
- The vote is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have.
- We must be bold, brave, and courageous and find a way…to get in the way.
- Freedom is not a state; it is an act.
- When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up.
- Not one of us can rest, be happy, be at home, be at peace with ourselves, until we end hatred and division.
- We have to believe that we’re one people, one family. And we cannot turn against each other. We have to turn to each other. – 2018 National Geographic interview
- At a very early stage of the movement, I accepted the teaching of Jesus, the way of love, the way of nonviolence, the spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation. The idea of hate is too heavy a burden to bear. It’s better to love.” — 2004 PBS interview
- Many of us that got caught up and involved in the civil rights movement saw our involvement as an extension of our faith… Without our faith, without the spirit and spiritual bearings and underpinning, we would not have been so successful. Without prayer, without faith in the Almighty, the civil rights movement would have been like a bird without wings. — 2004 PBS interview
- Nothing can stop the power of a committed and determined people to make a difference in our society. Why? Because human beings are the most dynamic link to the divine on this planet.”– from Across That Bridge: Life Lessons and a Vision for Change
- It was no accident that the movement was led primarily by ministers—not politicians, presidents or even community activists—but ministers first, who believed they were called to the work of civil rights as an expression of their faith.”…“Religious faith is a powerful connecting force for any group of people who are working toward social change. — Across That Bridge: A Vision for Change and the Future of America
More
When he knew he was dying, Lewis asked the NYTimes to print his final words, and they did. At his funeral, President Obama reflected them in his eulogy. Here’s part of his parting words:
I heard the voice of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on an old radio. He was talking about the philosophy and discipline of nonviolence. He said we are all complicit when we tolerate injustice. He said it is not enough to say it will get better by and by. He said each of us has a moral obligation to stand up, speak up and speak out. When you see something that is not right, you must say something. You must do something. Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part to help build what we called the Beloved Community, a nation and world society at peace with itself
In my life I have done all I can to demonstrate that the way of peace, the way of love and nonviolence is the more excellent way. Now it is your turn to let freedom ring.
When historians pick up their pens to write the story of the 21st century, let them say that it was your generation who laid down the heavy burdens of hate at last and that peace finally triumphed over violence, aggression and war. So I say to you, walk with the wind, brothers and sisters, and let the spirit of peace and the power of everlasting love be your guide.
The movie of his life:
Rod’s tribute upon his passing.
What do we do with this?
John Lewis was an influencer par excellence from the beginning of social media. He used every means at his disposal to get noticed and cause trouble for the love of God. So he has made it rather plain what he thinks you should do; follow in his footsteps as he follows Jesus. Get on the bus, get arrested, get into the march, get elected, use your voice, hands and feet to advance the cause of freedom. Be free in Christ so you can set others free.
The American Bar Association wrote “When 2020 began, very few could have predicted how important Lewis’s words would once again prove. Following the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer on May 25, 2020, widespread protests broke out across the country. According to data collected by the New York Times, somewhere between 15 million and 26 million people participated in Black Lives Matter demonstrations in more than 500 locations. Journalists covering these protests found themselves on the front lines like never before: In the course of covering these protests, members of the press were arrested, struck by rubber bullets, tear gassed, and otherwise targeted by law enforcement. People of all ages and races are taking to the streets to wage ‘good trouble,’ and journalists are putting themselves in harm’s way to make sure that message gets to as many people as possible….Shortly before his death, Lewis commented on the connective thread linking this movement to the movement he helped lead decades prior, writing in a statement, ‘My fellow Americans, this is a special moment in our history. Just as people of all faiths and no faiths, and all backgrounds, creeds, and colors banded together decades ago to fight for equality and justice in a peaceful, orderly, non-violent fashion, we must do so again.'” The struggle is ongoing.