Devotional from Pastor Dave January 17, 2024

This past weekend, our church joined with others around our nation in our annual

commemoration of the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Monday would have been his 95th birthday.

On Sunday in the Crest service, Margee Lee lifted up her voice in singing the anthem by Patty Griffin, “Up to the Mountain,” which is drawn from King’s last speech on the eve of his assassination. I had never heard this song until Margee sang it on MLK weekend last year. The haunting words envision “the peaceful valley just over the mountain…I may never get there, ever in this lifetime. But sooner or later, it’s there I will go.” You can view that service online at https://www.youtube.com/signalcrestumc.

Drew organized not just one day of service, like we had last year, but two whole days of service. On Sunday afternoon, a crew gathered at the firewood camp to deliver firewood, along with some food, to our neighbors on the mountain. Others put together teacher appreciation gifts and treats for our friends at Howard High School and the Chambliss Center. Others put together college supplies for high school seniors at Howard High School. Several of our children and their families helped put together birthday boxes for Signal Mountain Social Services and to bake cookies to take to some of our more seasoned church members. And another group from the church went downtown to serve the Sunday evening meal at the Mustard Tree ministries.

On Sunday evening, we hosted a meal prepared by Alicia for our community partners in

ministry. Representatives from Signal Mountain Social Services and from Howard High School were present, including one of the assistant principals there, Dawn Bowles Lim, a college classmate of mine, and her dad, the Rev. Al Bowles. Drew organized a service of worship in the sanctuary that included readings from the prophets and a passage from MLK’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” prayers for justice and peace, music led by our youth praise band, and Drew’s reflections on being extremists for love. That worship service is also at https://www.youtube.com/signalcrestumc.

Drew had also organized another full day of service for Monday, which included plans to sort clothes at the Signal Mountain Social Services clothes house and to serve at the Chambliss Center for Children, but the weather had other plans for that day. But well over sixty of you signed up to serve in some capacity during these two days of service, and even more of you showed up along the way. I can’t commend Drew enough for organizing this or you for taking part in it.

It all reminds me of one of my favorite MLK quotes. “Everybody can be great,” he said,

“because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein’s theory of relativity to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.”

That’s a good word for all of us. And not just one day a year, but every day.