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One Sunday, I heard a sermon that convicted me.
The visiting preacher was expanding on Matthew 5:16, where Jesus says, “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”
In 1963, (the pastor told us) when the civil rights struggle in Birmingham, Alabama, continued with no resolution in sight, the African American schoolchildren of the town marched toward city hall, where they knelt on the steps and prayed and sang. The Birmingham police arrested the children. Before long, at least a thousand African American schoolchildren were in jail.
By the time the Children’s Crusade of 1963 was over, thousands of courageous African-American schoolchildren had marched. These children’s marches finally brought the attention of the national press, leading to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
One of the songs the African American schoolchildren of Birmingham sang as they marched was “This Little Light of Mine.”
So, I’ll take my light out from under that basket and carry it out to where it can do some good. I’m going to let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
This message is excerpted from “Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine” by Audrey Novak Riley from the February 9, 2017, blog of the Women of the ELCA. Today is the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany.