This morning, the New York Times printed the final essay that civil rights leader and congressman John Lewis asked to be published on the day of his funeral.
Here is the link. It is well worth the time to read.
Rep. Lewis died on July 17, 2020, of pancreatic cancer. He wrote this essay shortly before he died. They are his final words, and they are a final gift of hope to us, from a man who displayed such courage and valor over his lifetime.
John Lewis writes that he was motivated by the brutal murder of Emmett Till, who was falsely accused of sexually accosting a white woman (she admitted years later that the incident never happened). Emmet Till was just a 14 year old boy when he was murdered.
John Lewis was only 15 years at the time. He realized that what happened to Emmet Till because he was Black, could happen to him. If nothing changed, it likely would happen to him. If not to him, to another Black person like him.
So, John Lewis worked to change things. He joined Martin Luther King Jr. to build the “Beloved Community,” and to speak against injustice through the practice of non-violence and peaceful protest.
In the process, he was arrested, beaten, attacked by police dogs, sprayed with a fire hose, and on “Bloody Sunday,” had his skull fractured by the Montgomery police in the peaceful march across the Edmund Pettis bridge.
John Lewis was a man consistently guided by his unshakeable faith. It was the foundation in his life. His faith was the reason for getting into “good trouble” as he called it. His faith would not let him look the other way or remain silent in the face of injustice.
He writes:
“Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part to help build what we called the Beloved Community, a nation and a world society at peace with itself.”
I think John Lewis realized that everything he wrote about democracy in the above quote, is also true about the Kingdom of God.
Yes, the Kingdom of God is an act too. And each of us in faith join with God to make God’s will the enduring reality “on earth as it is in heaven” as Jesus taught us to pray in the Lord’s Prayer.
Rep. Lewis fought tirelessly to create a democracy that reflected the values of that Kingdom of God. Made “good and necessary trouble” to bring it about. Because God’s Kingdom is forever. It, and it alone, will endure for eternity.
The Kingdom of God, as proclaimed by Jesus, is built on the Truth of love and nonviolence manifest in peaceful resistance in the face of the Lie that fear, hatred and violence represent.
This is holy work. The sum of our baptismal covenant. And it is liberating work. Especially for those trapped in fear and feel so threatened that they must take up arms against the power of justice and love.
“Father forgive them, they don’t know what they’re doing.” Jesus prays from the cross.
As people of faith, we are called to follow Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. It is not always easy to follow Jesus, Lord knows, but there is no other path that leads to life. Everything else will pass away and be forgotten.
John Lewis walked that path with grace and dignity, as best he could. I will miss him and his witness as we continue the journey, even as we give thanks for his life and witness.
As he writes in his final essay:
“So, I say to you, walk with the wind, brothers and sisters, and let the spirit of peace and the power of everlasting love be your guide.”
Charles Oberkehr 
well done
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