I
remember that moment
talking
with our daughters
answering
their urgent questions
knowing
only in part
the
truth of segregation
what
it was to live under
the
stain of discrimination
Going
out, continuing my work
something
to relate, to understand,
the
depth of the divide of hate
seeing
black and white
not
trusting each other
setting
some apart, as others
a
different, less than ourselves
Seeing
others as property
somehow
lower than man
based
on skin color, on race
nothing
they controlled
that
they should be set apart
the
white man from the black man
neighbors
in this land
Looking
the girls in the eye
something
real and clear
that
their mother and I
were
able to wed, to be married,
because
of their struggle
their
fight for justice, equality,
making
us no different from each other
The
reward of all the struggle and pain
not
longer kept apart, separate
able
to follow love instead
in
each beating heart; but
more
to do to unite us, one nation,
whether
red, yellow, black,
brown
or white, or pink.
-----
edited July 22, 2015
That We Were Able to Wed –
v3
(editing version 2)
edited January 21, 2015
That We Were Able to Wed –
v2
January 17, 2010
That We Were Able to Wed
January 16 conversation
with the girls about
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Day
and segregation,
including discussion of
the right of interracial couples
could marry in all 50
states only recently
Loving v. Virginia, ruling
that all states must allow
interracial marriage, 1967
&
edited January 21, 2015
How We Are to Act – v2
January 17, 2011
How We Are to Act
edited January 19, 2015
Words can Destroy – v2
January 17, 2011
Words can Destroy
edited January 20, 2015
Words to Edify – v2
January 17, 2011
Words to Edify
The Reverend Doctor Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Day 2011
&
Isaiah 9:1-4
and
Upper Room Disciplines for
2011
for January 17 to 23, 2011
“Carrying God’s Light”
by Cathie McFadden
for January 17, 2011
read January 17, 2011
&
Isaiah 6:1-8
&
Isaiah 49:1-7
John 1:29-42
Worship Theme: “Called by
God to . . .”
and sermon, “A Light to
the Nations”
by Pastor Ruth Foss
sermon
blog
meditation
blog
“God’s
Whisper” blog
Suncook United Methodist
Church
Suncook, NH
January 16, 2011
Second Sunday after
Epiphany
Human Relations Sunday
&
edited
January 19, 2015
Changing
the Wind – v3
(merging
edits to original and version 2)
Edited
July 22, 2013
“changing
the wind – v2”
December 7, 2007
“changing the wind”
Based on the comments of Jim Wallis on
Speaking of Faith, November 29, 2007
He was talking about whether to change politicians
or change the wind, to change the public opinion
which guides politics. He used the example
of President Johnson’s statement to the
Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that it would
take 5 years for a voting rights bill but
it actually took 5 months to pass the Voting Rights Act,
after the March in Selma.
&
Edited September 8, 2013
“Making the secular Holy –
v3”
Edited September 7, 2013
“Making the secular Holy –
v2”
new poem September 7, 2013
“Making the secular Holy”
----
This poem is about my wife
and me when we got married
in a civil service on
December 17, 2004 in Concord, NH in White Park
and then before our church
family at
Wesley United Methodist
Church in Concord, NH
on April 23, 2005.
----
We celebrate 2
anniversaries because they both mean a great
deal to us, in very
different ways.
I grieve for those who are
able to marry civilly in so many
states now, such as NH,
but are unable to marry in their
United Methodists churches
and for the clergy who are put on trial
for choosing to go against
the Discipline to marry them.
&
trials of Rev. Frank
Schaefer
and Rev. Thomas Ogletree
and Rev. Steve Heiss
&
Edited September 7, 2013
For Offering Love – v2
June 22, 2011
For Offering Love
Love on Trial,
the case against the Reverend
Amy DeLong,
which begins on June 20, 2011
&
John 8:1-11
&
Samuel Thompson’s
Inclusion Essay
shared at the New England
United Methodist Church
Annual Conference
in response to call by
Reconciling Ministries Network
for essays describing, “My
vision for an inclusive church”,
June 10, 2011
&
in part inspired by
conversations with
the Reverend John Makokha
Riruta UMC
Other Sheep Afrika-Kenya http://www.othersheep.org/OSEA_CL_Other_Sheep_Kenya.html
Children of Africa Hope
Mission Project in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya. http://rirutaumc.homestead.com/children_of_africa.html
&
Matthew 25:31-46
The Sheep and the Goats
&
Matthew 28:18-20
Matthew 28:18-20
Great Commission
All of my
poems are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005,
2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015. All rights
reserved. Contact me at Ray
Foss for usage. See all 38,480+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com
Poetry Where You Live.
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