05638
Dec. 1, 2005

Making hope real

A Christmas message
from the PC(USA) stated clerk

by Clifton Kirkpatrick
General Assembly stated clerk

LOUISVILLE — Even though the media have moved on to other stories, I continue to reflect on the life and witness of Rosa Parks.

     As Elenora Giddings Ivory, director of the Presbyterian Washington Office, commented at the time, “With the passing of Rosa Parks, the nation has lost one of its greats.”

     I agree wholeheartedly with my colleague. Rosa Parks demonstrated remarkable strength and courage. She is a reminder to me of the potential influence one person’s actions can have on an entire system, in this case, the oppressive system of racial discrimination.

     Elenora went on further to say, “As we mourn her, she would probably be the first to say that we still have more to do. Legal equality has not brought about actual social equality — in education, health care, housing, and employment. We need only look around to see that inequality is still a fact of life in the United States.”

     Again, I agree entirely. It will take much work from all of us to rid this country, indeed the whole world, of a deeply ingrained system of racism and inequality.

     The 214th General Assembly (2002) adopted a statement that said, in part, that we “acknowledge the need for continued diligent work by individuals, congregations, presbyteries, synods, and General Assembly entities to achieve the eradication of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance to achieve justice for people throughout the church, society, and world.”

     The 217th General Assembly (2006) will convene next June in Birmingham, AL — just up the road from Montgomery, where Rosa Parks helped to ignite the Civil Rights Movement. Somehow, in this present season of Advent hope, it seems easier for me to imagine the world actually coming closer to God’s realm of justice and equality, as God’s own self comes close to us in the Christ child.

     My prayer is that we in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will do our part in working to make God’s realm a closer reality as our General Assembly convenes close to where Rosa Parks made her witness.

     May God’s hope and joy fill each of you this Advent and Christmas.