Tuesday, October 13, 2020 (today’s lectionary)
Memphis bygones
With two hours of October daylight left in Memphis, Tennessee I couldn’t help myself. There were Civil War sites to see, and the National Civil Rights Museum, and Elmwood Cemetery, where twelve Civil War generals are buried.
Margaret was willing to go along, and afterwards, on this Columbus Day when most of the BBQ restaurants were closed, we found a Topps BBQ open with lots of ribs and brisket and everything we needed for a fine Super 8 in-room meal.
Elmwood Cemetery closed at 4:30. We didn’t know that, though, and found ourselves at the scary black entry bridge with a giant stop sign blocking our way, sending us back through the rough neighborhood we’d just driven through.
The Civil Rights Museum is housed in the Lorraine Motel on S. Main St. Driving north to the museum, I thought of Martin Luther King and Ralph Abernathy and others in their own car driving down the same street at the end of a long trip from Alabama, tired and ready to sleep, but not before Dr. King addressed the folks on strike at the Memphis garbage company. It was already April, the trash was backing up, the city leaders were impatient, it was going to be summer soon and everything would stink to high heaven.
Stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.
Getting ready to leave for the speech, Dr. King watched the sunset from the balcony outside his room. Taking advantage of the same perfect backlight we had tonight, James Earl Ray aimed his rifle from across the street, and fired.
The Lorraine Motel sat still in the sunset just as it had on April 4,1968, with its sick green doors, exhausted, holding onto death, the bright Vegas-inspired sign stark against the blue sky. Some people took selfies. The museum was closing as we got there, and I took a picture of two, but I couldn’t bring myself to take a selfie.
Memphis contrasts began to take my breath away. Just a few blocks away a park now called Health Sciences Park took us back a hundred years from 1968. Nathan Bedford Forrest became Memphis’ hometown hero after his brilliant exploits in the Civil War, and after he died and was buried, his body was moved to this park, Forrest Park then. A tall horse and rider statue marked his grave.
But General Forrest, such an obvious military genius, made his fortune selling slaves. He did not prevent his soldiers from massacring hundreds of surrendered black soldiers after the battle of Fort Pillow. He became the first Grand Wizard (so named because he was a “wizard” in the saddle during the War) of an organization he founded called the Ku Klux Klan.
The Bedford statue has been removed. The park has been renamed. In bright yellow paint, block letters surround the statue. BLACK LIVES MATTER.
The evening light was going. But Margaret found the address of the former home of Shelby Foote, famous historian and novelist who spoke often during Ken Burns’ nine hour “Civil War” on PBS. Mr. Foote lived here from 1966 until he died in 2005. He wrote at least some of his Civil War Trilogy here. Even after PBS had made him famous, he never unlisted his phone number. Sometimes I think of him as a hero, even as a literary father figure. We found the house, with its wall of ancient bricks and a dark metal gate to bar our entrance. It recently sold for $575,000.
Take not the word of truth from my mouth, Lord.
I walk in liberty because I seek your precepts.
Let me lift up my hands to your commands, O God.
Shelby Foote thought the Civil War unearthed genius in two people, Abraham Lincoln and Nathan Bedford Forrest. I’m not sure what to think about that conclusion of his, but I did take pictures of his house and Forrest’s grave in the park nearby.
And as I think of this afternoon’s trips into the past, I am getting a few goosebumps, a few shivers down my spine. MLK, Bedford Forrest, Shelby Foote … coming down now to today, to 2020, to our own struggles and fears.
Stand firm, then, and do not submit once more to the yoke of slavery.
This is easier said than done. But in community with God and goodness, it is not only possible, but necessary. None of us can live loving lives without the sustenance of Christ, without confession, forgiveness, the body and the blood, the blessing … seeing thee more nearly, loving thee more dearly, following thee more nearly, day by day …
The word of God, living and effective,
Is able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.
John Donne’s words haunt me as midnight approaches. “Do not ask for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee.”
(Galatians 5, Psalm 119, Hebrews 4, Luke 11)
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