Elder Bernice King Addresses Congregants at St. Sabina

On Sunday, January 8, 2012, at the Faith Community of St. Sabina, a Catholic parish on the south side of Chicago, Elder Bernice A. King, the youngest daughter of the late Coretta Scott King and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered to an interfaith audiencean empowering and impactful message of nonviolence, “Exchange your piece for His peace.”  More than twelve hundred congregants and guests filled the room.

Father Michael Pfleger, the Pastor of St. Sabina, acknowledged in his introduction of Elder King, “I am a priest today because of what Dr. King and what he deposited in my life in 1966.” Father Pfleger had asked Elder Bernice King to focus her message on a call to nonviolence.  But it is clear that no one anticipated the more than memorable direction that Elder King’s message took and that we all were left the better for it.

Elder King delivered her sermon from the New King’s Version Chapters Matthew 5:9, which reads, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God”; John 14:27, which reads “Peace, I leave with you. My peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid”; and Romans 8:19, which reads “For the honest expectation of the creature, eagerly awaits for the revealing of the sons of God,”

Focusing on a call of nonviolence, Elder King stressed the need to “Exchange your P-I-E-C-E for His (referring to Christ) PEACE.”  Noting how we almost always want to give someone a piece of our mind,  Elder King cited two of the most dangerous weapons in the world as “our tongue and weapons we call guns, knives and other things. Those are our piece, but if we are going to have true peace in the world, P-E-A-C-E,and non-violence is going to be our way, then we have to exchange, give up, trade-in, your piece for His peace,” she said referring to Jesus Christ.

Elder King highlighted the need for a paradigm shift from peace- (& piece-) keeping to peace-making. “In too many instances when we’re talking about peace, we’re talking about peace keepers. We’re talking about trying to do something to temporarily quiet things down. We’re talking… about trying to get people to just cool out for a period of time, but I don’t know about you but at some point my cooling off is going to wear out and I will be right back to where I was to give you my piece.

“It’s got to be a little bit more than just keeping the peace,” she said. “Keeping the peace many times is indicative of people who don’t want any trouble. They don’t want to get down and dirty with a situation. They want to be cute and proper, clean, cool… but if you are a peacemaker you have to go through a process of confronting some ugly things. Dr. King was a peacemaker.”

This photo demonstrates the magnitude of the altar call that Elder Bernice King made to congregants, each one rededicating themselves to the struggle to be peacemakers.

Referring to peacemaking, Elder King stated that it is difficult to make peace if one does not have an understanding that true peace really comes by being at peace with the ultimate Peacemaker. “Jesus was a transformer and he was a revolutionary transformer. He was an ultimate peacemaker…You have to first have peace with God before you can even begin to be a peacemaker. You can’t give something that you do not have; so if you don’t have peace with God who is the ultimate Peacemaker, then it’s going to be impossible for you to be a vessel for peace.”

Elder King cautioned, “Peace with God is essential if we’re going to bring peace into our streets; It takes an individual who has come to an end of themselves to be that kind of weapon, that kind of vessel.” “…The world we live in today will not change until the people of God get in line, give up your piece, your prerogative, your desire and surrender to His peace, His prerogative and His desire. Nothing else will change and transform lives.”

“It’s good to gather in our houses of worship all around this nation, but at the end of the day, I think God is grieved when we just gather in these settings and nothing takes place to move out into the streets and the highways, the byways and the crevices and in the cracks to bring about change and transformation in peoples lives.”

“Nonviolence is in the tradition of peacemaking. It means you are not afraid to go into a war zone. You’re not afraid to go in a zone of conflict and violence. You’re not afraid to confront some ugly things and some dangerous and difficult things. It means you don’t buy into the notion that I can’t snitch on nobody.

Elder King distinguished that when you can’t snitch on anyone, “you’re just a peacekeeper, but a peacemaker has to speak up, has to stand up, has to say something, can’t be quiet and is willing to lay down their life for the cause. That’s a peacemaker. That’s not a peacekeeper.”

Elder King observed that a peacemaker is a person is not afraid of controversy or of challenges. “To be a true authentic, real what you call Christian (that) I call son of God and a citizen of the Kingdom of God, then you can’t be afraid to stand up, to speak up, to risk your life to go into some dark and dirty and difficult and hard places and be willing to risk the loss of some things. Our young people deserve it. The next generation is waiting for some people of God who’re willing to pay the cost of discipleship because it’s a discipline. Nonviolence is a discipline.”

“This is a call for peacemakers. This ain’t for peacekeepers. This ain’t for wimpy…weak, scary, intimidated folks. This is for folks who are not afraid to stand up when it is not popular, who are not afraid to speak up even though people may try to shut you down. These are for people who don’t care what they say about you because you know who you are in the Lord. This is not for people who run away from conflict, controversy and persecution.  Our children need us to put our lives on the line, to put our reputations on the line….”

Reflecting on her father’s statements, Elder King said, “true peace is not merely the absence of tension, it’s the presence of justice. Until there is justice, we’re not going to have peace…. People have to treated justly. Conditions have to be right. We have to deal with the wealth disparities in our nation today…Violence is only the voice of the unheard, and we’ve created a system that has locked too many people out. We’ve got to come together, band together, people of God. We’ve got to be willing to go into the center of this storm and this crisis because it’s about to pop,” she warned.

Igniting the audience, Elder King said, “When we show up in the streets of Chicago starting from this day forward, you show up as a king under the King of kings with the authority to release His peace in the land and call everybody who is out of order to come into order, but if you don’t have yourself in order for the ultimate King, then you will not be able to be effective in this way.”

She urged congregants to “stand in that authority and move in your kingship and begin to work to reclaim Chicago as the Kingdom of God. This will be a beloved community…because today some people decide to make a decision to lay down their life and to be a warrior of the kingdom.”

With a powerful message such as this, it is no wonder why congregants filed up from every direction, to answer the altar call.

Early on in her message, King acknowledged the presence of the Violence Interrupters, Senator Jacqueline Collins, the members of the Nation of Islam who were present and Ondelee Perteet who in September of 2009 at the age of 14 had plans of attending Orr Academy but instead was shot at a party leaving him paralyzed. He was there with his mother, Detreena Perteet. Father Pfleger presented them with a “Blue Heart Award.” (Click Here for VIDEO of the Award presentation)

Three local television stations sent cameras and reporters, as well as a local weekly newspaper, which did an outstanding article about the vigil. Judy Eigenfeld and I also appeared on a local morning television program the morning of the event.

We were proud to have been able to bring so many people together, and to get the word out via local media. We are discussing making the vigil a yearly event.

Photo by Marc Golub

Click Here to read a news article on the vigil by Arlene Fine/Cleveland Jewish News

On display was a large card signed by more than 300 people from every
corner of the state, offering messages of love and support.

Supporters gathered on the steps of St. John’s Lutheran Church, where the music, flowers, and candlelight at dusk provided a perfect setting. Signs bore the names of victims of gun violence inside a heart. The elected officials spoke of the enormous tragedy of gun violence and their commitment to prevention.

The church bell tolled as the names of victims were read – first from Tucson, then from Seal Beach, Cupertino, and Los Angeles, and finally, from Stockton in 1989. The names of more victims were said – a brother and a son lost by suicide, a daughter by homicide, two men by homicide, a friend…there are too many victims. It was a solemn, beautiful, and moving event.

Then, walking two by two, a short memorial procession to California’s Capitol Park was followed by a candlelight vigil. In silence, people stood together in witness to the tragedy of gun violence and their resolve to prevent it. Passersby expressed support. All were heartened by the thought of candlelight vigils around the country. May their collective light lead America from the darkness of gun violence.

Read the full story from the Duluth News Tribune.

Link to a news story by The Stamford Advocate

The vigil began at 1:00 p.m. culminating the worship day for the church with more than 70 people in attendance. Central to the event were testimonies of those who suffered loss due to violence. Brittany Leavy, a senior at Dunbar High, recounted the experience of losing her best friend, an innocent bystander who was killed by gunshots intended for someone else in 2011. She spoke of the sense of loss and the devastating pain she still carries. Randolph Bradley, a deacon of Koinonia, spoke of the pain now suffered by his grandson due to the loss of his father to gun violence.

Bishop Miles spoke of the need for the whole community to come together to break the covenant with death and violence that seems to pervade the city despite the recent drop in murders and other violent crimes in Baltimore and statewide. Rev. Dante K. Miles, pastor, led the vigil in a prayer for peace. The singing of hymns and other spiritual music punctuated the gathering. Later Bishop Miles recounted how much the vigil was needed because most present had either experienced violence first hand or was close to someone who had. Plans are to conduct the vigil on an annual basis.