Guest preacher Pastor Jeff Powell stirred the passions of MLK service celebrants.
In these divisive times, attending the interfaith Martin Luther King service at Third Baptist Church on February 23 was a pleasant one-hour break.
It was refreshing to join over 70 churchgoers, Blacks, Whites, Arabs, Jews, Christians and other ethnic groups to celebrate the civil rights leader’s life.
As the service began, visiting clergy and choirs advanced single file down the center aisle, singing “We’ve Come This Far by Faith.” Rocking left to right, they shuffled to the beat of the hymn in a memorable moment.
The Greater Suffield Interfaith Council co-hosted the event with Third Baptist Church. The Rev. Diann Bailey of First Church, who chairs the Council, opened the service with a prayer asking God to help attendees “face injustice with courage and love.”
Prayers and reflections by Anne Alleva from the Hartford-Tolland Bahá’í Faith and Robin Henrie from Springfield’s Sinai Temple followed. Palestinian-American Nasser Saleh quoted from the Prophet Muhammad, who over 1,400 years ago preached that Whites had no superiority over Blacks nor Blacks over Whites, “except by piety and good action.”
Pastor Jeff Powell from The New Antioch Baptist Church in Hartford was the guest preacher. He advocated following the teachings of Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount and being the light of the world. Gradually, his pace and volume increased. A chord-playing pianist accompanied him. Churchgoers started blurting “Yes, sir,” “Oh, thank you, Lord,” and other affirmations as the pastor continued ever faster and louder. They stood, clapped and shouted repeatedly, waving extended arms. By the end of his preaching, Pastor Powell was rocking the small church like a Bruce Springsteen concert.
Before the service began, I had helped a frail older, black man in a wheelchair sit down by leaning over and extending my arm for him to hold as his nurse positioned him in his pew. He had a dignified air, and I couldn’t help wondering how many racial slurs, menacing glances and slammed doors he must have endured in his lifetime.
But with hope, one of the dreams of Martin Luther King will someday come true when we become “a land where men of all races, colors and creeds will live together as brothers.”