Rosa Parks and the Summit

I am culling through the notes from the conference in order to come up with our agenda and strategic plan for 2006. This labor reinforces the tremendous value I feel from having a working meeting at the Progressive Christian Summit. Leaders from around the country coming together to fellowship, to worship and to build a movement.

Someone towards the end of the conference noted that we are organizing, but that we need our Rosa Parks moment. I responded that I have deep faith that we will have a Rosa Parks moment...a moment that galvanizes mass numbers of progressive Christians to work for a just world filled with peace and economic plenty for all. But it takes a lot of preparation before that moment to build to a galvanizing moment and the work required afterwards requires just as must courage and dedication. Its easy for us to get into our folklore around social movements, but the truth is that building a movement requires sacrafice and is usually not so glamorous.

Ironically, my readings for my class with David Gergen this week included Douglass Brinkley's biography of Rosa Parks. This humble seamstress had spent years working for the NAACP in her community acting as secretary. She had constant contact with civil rights leaders from around the country. Shortly before taking her hallowed seat on the bus, she had attended a retreat that taught Gandhian principles of nonviolent resistance. Since the days of her grandfather guarding her family against the KKK, she had been in constant preparation for the moment that galvanized a nation.

We'll have our Rosa Parks moment. Maybe it will be one of you reading this. Maybe it will be someone that is touched or involved with our organizations. But the message now is that continued preparation and dedication will get us there. God will certainly provide for those who have prepared themselves for him.