DECEMBER 1ST 1955 A YOUNG WOMAN REFUSED TO GIVE UP HER SEAT ON A BUS IN MONTGOMERY ALABAMA. SHE KNEW SHE WOULD BE ARRESTED OR WORSE, YET SHE DID WHAT SHE KNEW SHE HAD TO DO, AND SHE DID IT.
SHE WAS ARRESTED FINGERPRINTED AND PHOTOGRAPHED LIKE A COMMON CRIMINAL. LATER WHEN SHE WAS ASKED WHY SHE DECIDED NOT TO GIVE UP HER SEAT? SHE SAID SIMPLY “I WAS TIRED.
IF YOU NEVER HEARD OF ROSA PARKS YOUR NATURAL INSTINCTS WILL PROBABLY TELL YOU SHE MUST HAVE HAD A LONG DAY.……AND YOU PROBABLY WOULD BE RIGHT.…. HOWEVER, ROSA PARKS WAS NOT SAYING SHE WAS TIRED FROM THE WORK OF THAT FATEFUL, DAY SHE WAS TIRED OF BEING TREATED LESS THAN A HUMAN BEING.
ROSA PARKS WAS NO STRANGER TO THE FIGHT FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE, DIGNITY AND EQUALITY. MS PARKS WAS THE SECRETARY OF THE MONTGOMERY CHAPTER OF THE NAACP. MS PARKS DIGNIFIED RESISTANT TO BIGOTRY SPARKED A MOVEMENT, INSPIRED A NATION WHICH INTRODUCED THE WORLD TO A KING.
A KING MANY NOW REFER TO AS THE GREATEST MORAL LEADER OF THE 20TH CENTURY. EVEN AS WE RECOGNIZE AND REVERE ROSA PARKS FOR HER BRAVERY FOR STANDING ON THE STRENGTH OF HER CONVICTION, WE WOULD BE REMISS IN NOT ACKNOWLEDGING THOSE BEFORE HER BEFORE HER 1) IRENE MORGAN IN 1946. 2)SARAH LOUISE KEYES IN 1955,3) AND THE MEMBERS OF THE BROWDER VS GAYLE LAWSUIT, CLAUDETTE COLVIN , AURIELA BROWDER SUSIE MCDONALD AND, MARY LOUISE SMITH .HAD ALL TAKEN SIMILAR ACTIONS AND WERE ALL ARRESTED.
TODAY WE SALUTE ALL WOMEN AND IN PARTICULAR THE FINE, TALENTED WOMEN OF GOD OF THIS CONGREGATION. WE RECOGNIZE YOU FOR THE TASKS YOU TIRELESSLY PERFORM IN THE MANY MINISTRIES OF THIS GROWING CHURCH.
ENRICHING THE LIVES OF INDIVIDUALS, HEALING OUR COMMUNITIES AND FULFILLING YOUR PURPOSE. I APPLAUD ALL OF YOU, NONE MORE-SO THAN OUR OWN SISTER BOTTOMS WHO GIVE OF HERSELF SELFLESSLY AND UNCEASINGLY.
I WAS BLOWN AWAY WHEN SHE TURNED UP AT THE HOSPITAL EARLY THAT MORNING OUR SON KODI SUDDENLY FELL ILL. I WILL ALWAYS CARRY IN MY HEART HER CARING WORDS, AS SHE SOUGHT TO DETERMINE IF WE WERE GOING TO BE OK.
AND TO THE QUEEN OF MY HEART AND OF OUR HOUSEHOLD, MY WIFE CHERYL WHO WORKS A DEMANDING FULL-TIME JOB , YET SOMEHOW DRIVES OUR SONS TO FOOTBALL PRACTICE, BASKET-BALL PRACTICE, MEDICAL APPOINTMENTS.
DO PARENT TEACHER APPOINTMENTS, KEEPS THE HOUSE CLEAN, TAKE CARE OF EVERYTHING ELSE AND STILL HAS A MEAL ON THE TABLE BY THE TIME I GET HOME FROM WORK. I HONESTLY HAVE NO IDEA HOW SHE DOES IT, I COULDN’T DO IT MYSELF.
WE DEPEND SO MUCH ON YOU WOMEN, YOU ARE THE GLUE IN MOST CASES WHICH HOLD THE FAMILIES TOGETHER. YOU ARE OUR MOTHERS AND FATHERS, YOU GO OUT TO WORK, RAISE THE KIDS, PREPARE THE MEALS, YOU COMFORT US WHEN WE ARE IN NEED OF A LISTENING EAR AND A TENDER TOUCH.
I KNOW THIS ALL TOO WELL, I WAS RAISED BY A SINGLE WOMAN WHO HAD NO CHILDREN OF HER OWN, YET SHE RAISED EIGHT OF US AS IF WE WERE HER ALL HER OWN. THE LESSONS SHE TAUGHT ME THEN, GUIDE MY LIFE TODAY.
I APPLAUD THE DIGNITY AND DECIDED AUTHORITY OF MY OWN WIFE, IN THE WAY SHE ADMINISTERS GUIDANCE TO OUR CHILDREN EVEN AS I KNOW AND UNDERSTAND THAT THIS IS WHAT EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU DO, DAY IN DAY OUT.
THE DEDICATION AND DISPATCH WITH WHICH YOU ATTEND TO THE TASKS OF THE VARIOUS MINISTRIES AND FUNCTIONS OF THIS CHURCH IS INSPIRING. I HAVEN’T BEEN HERE VERY LONG , YET I AM IMPRESSED WITH THE LEADERSHIP AND FOCUS OF ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE GIVEN OF YOUR TIME IN DIFFERING WAY TO BRING GOD’S WORD TO MYSELF AND OTHERS AS WE SEEK THE PATH TO SALVATION.
YOU ARE MOTHERS , WIVES , SISTERS, AUNTS, TEACHERS , COMFORTERS , AND SOMETIMES FATHERS TOO. EVEN AS YOU GIVE SO MUCH OF YOURSELVES, WE ASK AND DEMAND EVEN MORE OF YOU . WE ASK THAT YOU CONTINUE TO IMPRESS ON OUR YOUNG WOMEN THAT THERE IS MORE TO LIFE FOR THEM THAN A BABY-STROLLER.
WE ASK THAT YOU IMPRESS UPON THEM THAT IF THEY PLACE TRUE VALUE ON THEMSELVES, MEN WILL HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO VALUE THEM. I CHALLENGE YOU TO CONTINUE TO HELP US IN THIS FIGHT TO RECLAIM THESE OUR CHILDREN FROM THE RAVAGES OF TEEN PREGNANCY, DRUG ADDICTION, GANG VIOLENCE AND ILLITERACY.
I BEG OF YOU , ALL OF YOU,THAT YOU RETURN TO BEING TEACHERS. SCHOOLS ALONE CANNOT AND WILL NOT EDUCATE OUR CHILDREN. I ASK THAT YOU HELP US TO RECLAIM OUR SONS FROM THE PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX. LET US CONTINUE TO RAISE OUR CHILDREN IN THE WAY THEY SHOULD GO SO THAT WHEN THEY ARE OLD IT SHALL NOT DEPART FROM THEM . 
LET US NOT SEEK TO CONFORM TO THE WORLD, BUT RATHER LET US LIVE OUR LIVES IN A WAY WHICH CONFORM TO THE WAYS OF CHRIST SO THAT WE MAY BE DIFFERENT. LET US NOT CHANGE OUR SALVATION IN ORDER TO BE RELEVANT.
LET OUR RELEVANCE BE SEEN BY THE GOD IS US. THE BATTLES OF THE 50’S AND 60’S ARE THE BATTLES BEING FOUGHT TODAY, WAGES, JOBS, VOTING RIGHTS, AS WE COME FULL CIRCLE FROM THE MOVEMENT OF THE 60’S LET US BE MINDFUL THAT 71% OF ALL BABIES BORN THE THE AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY ARE BORN OUT OF WEDLOCK TO A TEEN MOTHER. LET US REMEMBER THAT THOUGH WE ARE JUST 12% THE NATION’S POPULATION WE MAKE UP MORE THAN HALF OF THE INMATE POPULATION.
THAT IS A STUNNING ONE MILLION PLUS MEN LOCKED AWAY . AS WOMEN CONTINUE TO BEAR THE BRUNT OF GOING OUT TO WORK AND RAISING THE KIDS, IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT IF WE DO NOT ARREST THIS FRIGHTENING INCARCERATION RATE OF OUR MEN , THEN THE CHALLENGES FOR YOU,OUR WOMEN GOING FORWARD WILL BE EXPONENTIALLY GREATER.
THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE AND UNSUSTAINABLE, LET US COME TOGETHER TO FIX THIS, OUR WOMEN HAVE ALWAYS LED, LET US MEN NOW SHOW THE WOMEN WE LOVE, THAT WE ARE READY , WILLING AND ABLE TO RISE TO THE CHALLENGE BEFORE US.
GOD BLESS YOU ALL.….…THANK YOU.