FreerangeFriday: Lenten Pilgrimage Pt. 2

by Lilly Lewin

A couple of weeks ago,  President Biden went to Selma, Alabama to REMEMBER. It was the 58th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday.  On March 7th, 1965, John Lewis ( who was a leader of SNCC at age 25!) and a group of 600 regular people known as The Foot Soldiers, attempted to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge to walk from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.  “ The activists were protesting the denial of voting rights to African Americans as well as the murder of 26-year-old activist Jimmie Lee Jackson, who had been fatally shot in the stomach by police during a peaceful protest just days before.” @eji_org

State Troopers and sheriff’s men attacked the peaceful protesters with billy clubs, dogs and tear gas sending 16 people to the hospital. This was the first of 3 marches that week in March of 1965, and a turning point in the civil rights movement that led to the VOTING RIGHTS ACT signed by President Lyndon Johnson August 6, 1965!

Folks this was in MY LIFETIME! And the fight for voting rights & basic civil rights is still happening in America! People of color are still being discriminated against & killed by police!

selma at sunset

I had the honor of visiting the National Voting Rights Museum & walking across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on February 25th last month,  just at the sun was setting along the river. The juxtaposition of the beauty and the brokenness of our country was on full display! Walking across the bridge was the end of our three day Civil Rights Pilgrimage learning about the history of civil rights and injustice in our nation. My husband Rob and I traveled down from Nashville to join Pastor Kathy Escobar and friends of the Refuge Community to experience this together.  Learn more from last week’s freerangefriday.

A group of us white folks took time out of our lives to REMEMBER our broken history and to REMEMBER the bravery of the men and women like John Lewis who stood up against oppression by peaceful protest and walking!

We’d spent the morning learning about the fight for civil right in Birmingham, Alabama and how over 1000 children stood up against injustice in the Children’s Crusade of 1963  because their parents would have lost their jobs if they’d taken time off to protest. The final part of our Pilgrimage was to go to Selma and walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. I was asked to lead the closing reflection for our three day pilgrimage. And as I drove down to Selma, I knew I had candles we were going to light together to remind us to be Light in the Darkness of our world.  I had also brought some stones/rocks with me that I’d collected on the beach at Lake Michigan, but I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to use them. One of my practices is to bring gear for experiential worship and then listen to what the Holy Spirit is up to and allow the Holy Spirit to lead what happens. Originally, I thought we might throw the rocks/stones into the river to give away our burdens and all the heavy things we’d carried with us on the journey and let Jesus, the living water, have them. But as I prayed and talked with my husband on the drive down to Selma. I thought about one of my favorite passages in Joshua 4

“Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, ⁶ to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ ⁷ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.” Joshua 4:4-7

 

“When your children ask their parents in time to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel crossed over the Jordan here on dry ground.’ For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you crossed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we crossed over, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty and so that you may fear the Lord your God forever.” Joshua  4: 21-24

Like us, the Children of Israel often forgot about all the mighty deeds God does. Like us, they needed to REMEMBER the power of God. So they built a tower of  12 stones on the bank of the Jordan River as a visual reminder of God’s mighty work in their lives. I wanted us to REMEMBER all we’d learned and seen along our journey together.

I had sharpie markers and rocks! I didn’t have time to write REMEMBER on the rocks, so I decided I would let each person pick a rock and a sharpie and write down the word REMEMBER on one side of their rock and then I would invite them to consider another word or phrase they wanted to carry with them from our time together and write that on the other side. ‘

Remember Rock

I wanted each of us to take home a REMEMBER ROCK as a tangible reminder of all the things we’d seen and heard on our pilgrimage together. All the atrocities we’d learned about and all the stories of heroes and the bravery of regular people standing up for justice too. I felt ready for our closing worship.

After we visited the museum together, we crossed the street to start the walk over the bridge.  Rob and I noticed a group of stones in the park at the foot of the bridge. These large stones were engraved with the Joshua 4:21-24

“When your children ask their parents in time to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel crossed over the Jordan here on dry ground.’ For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you crossed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we crossed over, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty and so that you may fear the Lord your God forever.” Joshua  4: 21-24

Rob and I both started crying…I had no idea these large stones were at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge! But the Holy Spirit knew! Wow!

selma rocks

Joshua stones

We all walked over the bridge, reflecting on many things and considering the people who’d marched across in 1965. Then we walked back across and met together in the park with the Joshua stones. I got to tell the story about not knowing how I would use these rocks from Michigan that I brought from home. I shared how the Holy Spirit invited me to use them as REMEMBER ROCKS and I passed them around along with the sharpies and we all wrote REMEMBER on our rocks. Then I shared how I had had no idea that there were Joshua stones with the verse carved in them here at the bridge! I still get chills thinking about the beauty of that moment and the power of the Holy Spirit!

I invited them to take home their rocks and put them somewhere where they would see them regularly. To use them as visual reminders to pray for their fellow pilgrims. To use these stones as a reminder of all the things God had shown them on this journey together and as a reminder to fight injustice when they got back home!

What about you? Do you need to remember the mighty works of God today? Do you need to remember that the Holy Spirit is still drying up rivers and still moving stones?

I invite you to find a smooth rock and a sharpie marker. Read Joshua 4. 

Write the word REMEMBER on your ROCK. Hold it in your hand and consider the wonderful things God has done in your life.  How have you seen God at work? in the past, the last few years, in the last few days?  Ask Jesus to help you remember. Take time to write these things down to help you remember. You might even tell your children or your grandchildren or friends about some of the wonderful things God has done in your life!  This week, take time to REMEMBER and take time to be GRATEFUL for all God has done and is doing in your life!

If you get a chance, take the time to go to Selma & to Birmingham and Montgomery. Learn our history and work to make America, and our world more equal and just daily!

Pilgrims in Selma!

©lillylewin and freerangeworship.com

Join me on Pilgrimage in Scotland! August 28-September 4th.We will rest, restore and remember on the beautiful Iona! Finding Your Thinplace Pilgrimage 2023

Join Lilly on Pilgrimage Aug 28-Sept 4, 2023