This day is etched in my memory: On Dec. 5, 1955, the Montgomery Boycott began.
On Dec. 5, 2020, a six-alarm fire destroyed the site of the Middle Collegiate Church. I close my eyes, and I can see the flames; I can smell the smoke; I remember the punch-in-the-stomach sorrow.
On so many days, it feels like that fire is burning, still. Yes, our congregation is still here. Yes, we have been hosted in places like the Riverside Church, East End Temple, and now Judson Memorial Church. Yes, we now have members in 48 states and 22 countries, due to the digital footprint we built during COVID and after the fire. Yes, we are rebuilding — even now — the part of our site at 50 E. 7th Street that received the least damage.
But, still, the fire. The fire is inside us. And the fire makes me think of the fires burning in this nation. Yes, there are amazing pockets of love and resistance, and incredible communities doing the work of fierce love. Folks are organizing for immigrants; for trans and queer people; for reproductive, racial, and economic justice.
And still, the fires burn. Fires of incivility and cruelty. Fires of lies masquerading as truth and the forming of policies forged in enmity and hatred. In so many ways, human rights — civil rights — are being torched with the fires of bigotry.
These are some hot-mess times, family.
I love this paper: the Amsterdam News. And in the annals I found this article, published in January 2017, about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (lightly edited for current AmNews style):
“There are two very misconstrued quotes from King. The first is ‘My Dream turned into a nightmare’ from his 1967 Christmas Eve Sermon broadcast on the Canadian Broadcast Channel. The other is ‘I have integrated my people into a burning house.’ Most use these quotes as proof that toward the end of Dr. King’s life, he abandoned integration for Black separatism or Black militancy. Looking at both of these quotes more rigorously will help us understand what King meant.
“The exact quote from the Christmas Eve Speech was:
“‘Toward the end of that afternoon (March on Washington), I tried to talk to the nation about a dream that I had had, and I must confess to you today that not long after talking about that dream, I started seeing it turn into a nightmare.’”
In this speech, King explained his frustration at the amount of violence Black people have encountered in the Civil Rights Movement. His frustration led him to double down on his philosophy of integration. He went on to say that hope is what keeps people alive, and he would never lose faith in the cause.
The 1967 Christmas Sermon is just one of five Massey Lectures, a series that the Canadian Broadcast Channel did to showcase significant contemporary thought leaders. If one reviews the entire Dr. King Massey Lecture series in the book “Trumpet of Conscience,” his philosophy about social justice is thoroughly explained. He sees the first stage of the movement as removing the legal basis of segregation. The movement was now in its second phase: world-centric humanitarianism. In this movement, the focus was on empowering all underprivileged people all over the world. He espoused global egalitarianism, which was manifested in his opposition to the Vietnam War.
The second quote on the “burning house” comes from a story told by Harry Belafonte. Here is the quote from the New York Amsterdam News:
According to Belafonte, King responded, “I’ve come upon something that disturbs me deeply. We have fought hard and long for integration, as I believe we should have, and I know we will win, but I have come to believe that we are integrating into a burning house. I’m afraid that America has lost the moral vision she may have had, and I’m afraid that even as we integrate, we are walking into a place that does not understand that this nation needs to be deeply concerned with the plight of the poor and disenfranchised. Until we commit ourselves to ensuring that the underclass is given justice and opportunity, we will continue to perpetuate the anger and violence that tears the soul of this nation. I fear I am integrating my people into a burning house.”
Belafonte added, “That statement took me aback. It was the last thing I would have expected to hear, considering the nature of our struggle.”
Belafonte said he asked King, “What should we do?” and King replied that we should “become the firemen.” King said, “Let us not stand by and let the house burn.”
So again, King did not want to evacuate the house. Instead, he wanted us to be agents of change and harbingers of a new moral code. A full retelling of Belafonte’s story is consistent with what was expressed in the Massey Lectures.
Friends, let us be firefighters, like those souls in Montgomery. Let us turn the full force of our love onto our systems, our politics, our beloveds, and ourselves. Let us love with such power and strength to extinguish the fires of bigotry and violence. And, from the smoldering ashes, let us rise up together in the love revolution needed to heal our nation, our souls, and the world. Let us remember that we are inextricably connected and what affects you affects me, and that we can’t be fully human by ourselves.
Let us love this nation, and make it generous and just, perhaps for the very first time.
Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis is senior minister and public theologian at the Middle Church in New York. She champions racial, economic, and gender/sexuality justice. The author of several books, including “Fierce Love” and the “Just Love Story Bible,” her work has been featured on NBC, CBS, PBS, MSNBC, and NPR, and in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Ebony and Essence magazines.
