Jeff's Journal
Courage.
I had heard of Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth who was from Cincinnati,
when we lived in Fort Thomas. From time to time a reporter
would write about him in the Cincinnati Enquirer.
In reality, he was from Birmingham, and lived through the
terrorism which accompanied the civil rights movement.
His house and church were bombed simultaneously.
He survived.
He led efforts to ride with equality on Birmingham city
buses in the mid-50's.
Once, when Dr. King's church in Montgomery was surrounded
with angry Ku Klux Klan members, he escorted Jim Farmer, director
of CORE (Congress of Racial Equality), through the mob into the church.
When a Freedom Rider named Jim Peck was beaten into unconsciousness,
Shuttlesworth walked into the bus station and carried him
out and to a hospital.
When he and his wife took his children to try and integrate Birmingham's
all-white Phillips High School, he was beaten mercilessly with
brass knuckles, whips and chains.
Charles Cobb of The Root.com, wrote this in Tuesday's paper:
"Of all the people in the civil rights movement, I would be
hard-pressed to name anyone who was more courageous than
the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, who died Wednesday at age 89, during the
civil rights struggle of the 50's and 60's."
Shuttlesworth is barely known, and yet he paved the way for the work
of Dr. King in Alabama. In a group of about 12 people the other day,
I asked if anyone had ever heard of Fred Shuttlesworth. No one had.
This is to say, it takes courageous sacrifice by mostly anonymous people
to make any endeavor in life bear the fruit it has the potential to bear.
The church is no different. Daily, you make the church what it can be.
Folks stepping up and saying, "Let me do that." "Let me organize this,"
are the hallmarks of a vital and successful church.
I am eternally grateful for folks like Fred Shuttlesworth, who step forward
when they are needed and make the sacrifices required for God's work
to continue and flourish.
Moving to the deeper places,
Jeff