{"id":2591,"date":"2010-10-11T21:51:44","date_gmt":"2010-10-12T01:51:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2010\/10\/michael-bryant.html"},"modified":"2010-10-11T21:51:44","modified_gmt":"2010-10-12T01:51:44","slug":"michael-bryant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2010\/10\/michael-bryant.html","title":{"rendered":"Michael Bryant: “the appalling silence”"},"content":{"rendered":"Pastor Michael Bryant expands on\nhis previous letter.<\/a>\n

\n-jsq\n

\nDear Pastors and fellow laborers in the Gospel of our Lord and Savior,\n

\nI was born and raised here in Lowndes County. Today I am as disturbed as I\nwas in 1973 when I, along with 42 other students, four ministers and their\nwives, were jailed for protesting unfair treatment of students in the\nLowndes County School System. We were arrested while standing in the\nparking lot awaiting to enter the building for a meeting called by\nthe Lowndes County Board of Education at their office on St. Augustine\nRoad. The meeting was supposed to be a good faith gesture designed to\nmediate an amicable solution to the picketing which had been in process for\nnearly six months. After being arrested, we were moved from Big 12 in a\nprison truck in the dead of night. We were to be housed in the Cook County\njail and none of our parents knew where we were. When we exited the truck,\nboth sides of the walk way upon which we had to walk were lined with\nnumerous State Troopers and other Law Enforcement officers sporting riot\ngear and shotguns. On the following day they refused to feed us breakfast.\nWe began to complain and the judge came upstairs dressed in his robe. He\nsaid “I want you to stop making noise, and if you don’t, I can make you\nstop.”\n

\nWhen we complained again, the cell in which we were jailed was sprayed\ndown with tear gas. We had one toilet and one sink in which to clear our\neyes. These are facts that went unreported by the papers. In fact they\nsaid we were rabble rousers. The late Ralph Harrington signed all our\nbonds, and we went through a lengthy trial, represented by the late Mr. C.\nB. King, Sr., of Albany, GA. At the close of the trial all charges were\ndismissed and expunged from our records.\n

\nAs a student then, I witnessed the appalling silence of men and women of\nGod who preached the hell out of people on Sundays, collected their checks,\nand went home untouched by the happenings in the community. This was much\nlike the appalling silence of ministers who sat on the sidelines while Dr.\nMartin Luther King, Jr., placed his life on the line for “the least of\nthese.”\n

\nSome years ago, Rev. Floyd Rose, two of my sisters and several other\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n

\nmembers of the People’s Tribunal as well as several officers of the NAACP\nwere jailed for opposing a directive issued by Mayor John Fretti who\ntold Rev. Rose to sit down because “somebody else might want the podium to\ntalk about a stray dog.” Their case went to the Georgia Supreme Court which\nagreed with their attorney that the law on the books violated their civil\nrights. Not one Minister stood with them or called to congratulate or\nencourage them to fight on. Incidentally, their attorney represented them\non a pro bono basis because he believed in their cause. To date, I believe\nhe is the only attorney practicing in the City of Valdosta to ever have a\nstate law overturned by the Georgia Supreme Court.\n

\nTime and time again my brothers and sisters of the cloth, I believe our\nappalling silence indicates fear or perhaps an unconcern for the people we\nhave been privileged by God to shepherd. Perhaps we may be in danger of\nbeing too heavenly minded to be any earthly good. Perhaps many of\nus believe as those of Dr. King’s era did, that we should relegate our\nactivities to the inside of our safe and comfortable sanctuaries.\nPerhaps we may feel that the gospel does not give us license to involve\nourselves in social issues and have succumbed to the “social gospel”\nargument. Nothing could be further from the truth. Today you and I enjoy\nprivileges at the expense of the beaten, broken, bloodied and dead bodies\nof many Black, White, Jewish, religious and non-religious, men and women\nwho as Dr. King said were “too God-intoxicated to be astronomically\nintimidated.” So they marched on in order that our futures might be a\nlittle brighter.\n

\nMight I remind us that God has called us to be Watchmen for his people.\nThat means we of all people should be the most informed of all people on\nissues and conditions that potentially adversely affect their lives.\nOtherwise we can not sound the alarm of warning. When I look at the meetings\ntaking place around our city, designed to free people from the tyrannical\nclutches of people of ill-will, power, and money, I am sometimes ashamed\nthat we are not better represented. How in the world can we remain silent\nand on the sidelines when we put before our people on Sundays a God who is\nomnipotent: parting the Red Sea delivering his people, pulling down the\nwalls of Jericho, delivering the Hebrew boys from the fiery furnace, Daniel\nfrom the lions’ den, and not to mention the fact that he sent his only\nbegotten Son to die on the cross for sinners? If it’s fear, we need to take\nthe advice we give to our parishioners: “but God hath not given us a spirit\nof fear, but of power, of love, and of a sound mind.” If it is a lack of\nconcern, then we we need to honestly and fervently seek the will and mind of\nGod concerning the things that hurt his heart. In any case, we need to\nwalk out what we say we believe. People need to see a sermon more than\nthey need to hear one.\n

\nI am very frank and straight forward. And I don’t believe that my\nconscience would ever allow me to follow a shepherd whose primary stand is\nin the pulpit. Saint Matthew writes that Jesus went, saw, was, and was\nmoved because he recognized that the people did not have a shepherd, someone\nwho genuinely cared about more than their souls and getting them to heaven.\nI believe we need to reorder our priorities. We need to stop wanting to\nhave a “little” church. We need to stop trying to revive the same people\nwe’ve been reviving for years. An old pastor said to me, “if a Church\nneeds to be revived two to three times a year, it doesn’t need revival. It\nneeds to be resurrected.”\n

\nCertainly it is important to preach the gospel and lead individuals to\nsaving grace. Yet it is also important to take a stand on community issues\nand show up. We tell people often about how our God will “show up and show\nout”. But God never does anything until he can get a man or woman through\nwhom he can do it.\n

\nThe Promised Land was given to the people of God, but they had to\nfight to dispossess the enemy who occupied it. Recall that the the half\ntribe of Manasseh did not want to go over into the land of promise.\nBut,they were not released to enjoy their inheritance until they fought\nalong side their brothers in order that they might gain their possession.\n

\nToday a number of organizations are fighting a war against the building of\na biomass plant that will certainly bring harm to our community, especially\nindividuals already suffering from asthma, COPD, and other debilitating\nconditions, not to mention the quality of our air and disproportionately\naffecting the greenhouse effect, causing increased global warming. Brothers\nand Sisters, it was not until the priest’s feet stepped into the waters of\nthe Jordan did they recede so that the people of God could cross over into\nthe land of promise. It is that time for all of us. Though we have come a\nlong way, this is no time for us to be “at ease in Zion.” (Know what I\nmean). We have to continue to fight for what is just and right.\n

\nSo I appeal to all of you to search your hearts and take a stand for the\nsake of our children and elderly, who will most definitely be adversely\naffected by this biomass plant. A number of Churches are situated in the\narea in which this plant will be constructed. It will provide only 25 jobs\nbut millions of dollars to powerful interests waiting in the wings in\nValdosta. The fact that we are in such a crisis in America is an indication\nof the fact that greed has no conscience. In this environment, it appears\nthat little remains sacred and almost everything is for sale, even honesty\nand integrity. No one loses themselves or their soul in one fell swoop.\nRather, they lose it incrementally, bit by bit. We wake up one day and\nwe’re not as close to God as we once were. We find ourselves involved in\nthings that do not bode well for men and women of the cloth. The genesis of\nDavid’s great sin was that “it was the time in which kings go to war and\nDavid remained yet in Jerusalem.” What if he had gone to battle as he\nshould have? Why did this mighty man of valor become so at ease that the\nsound of “Saul has killed his thousands, but David has killed his ten\nthousands” no longer motivated him? Are you at ease and staying in\nJerusalem also?\n

\nEdmund Burke, an English philosopher, said “the only thing necessary for\nevil to triumph is for good men (and I add good women) to do nothing.”\n

\nIn closing, Dr. King wrote in his famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”\nthat “if the church of today does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of\nthe early church, it will forfeit the loyalty of millions of young people\nand be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the 20th\ncentury.” Too many of the clergy failed to stand with him then, I plead with\nyou to take a stand, now. Heaven is not a reward for going through hell on\nearth. The church is a “sleeping giant in Valdosta.” Dr. King on another\noccasion said, “the church use to be a thermostat, regulating the mores of\nsociety; but now, it is a thermometer which merely records popular opinion.”\n

\nSince coming home after pastoring nearly 20 years away, I have noticed men\nand women of the cloth are quite apathetic and complacent with regard to\nwhat is happening within our community. Many are concerned about who is\ngoing to lead and who is going to get the credit. I know none of you would\nadmit to this. But, God knows. I leave you with this thought given to me\nby Mr. Jett Warren. He said, in his lifetime he had come to realize\nthat “there is no limit to the good a man or woman can do in life if they\ndon’t care who gets the credit.”\n

\nPlease join us in our work with the Southern Christian Leadership\nConference and the NAACP as we confront money and power which desires to do\nirreparable damage to our community and people. WE NEED YOU. IF YOU DO NOT\nMOVE, YOUR PEOPLE WILL NOT MOVE. THIS IS A FIGHT THAT WE CANNOT AFFORD TO\nLOSE!\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pastor Michael Bryant expands on his previous letter. -jsq Dear Pastors and fellow laborers in the Gospel of our Lord and Savior, I was born and raised here in Lowndes County. Today I am as disturbed as I was in 1973 when I, along with 42 other students, four ministers and their wives, were jailed […]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[97,556,120,141,14,15,16,2,19,72,1867,2951,21,32,1908,178,55],"tags":[8738,1747,2153,5277,8704,5284,5278,188,8701,3391,8791,8718,847,7,2838,5279,8863,5280,8713,8860,8714,5281,5282,6,180,8749,5283,4123],"class_list":["post-2591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism","category-air","category-biomass","category-co2","category-economy","category-education","category-environment","category-government","category-history","category-incarceration","category-mlk","category-naacp","category-planning","category-pollution","category-religion","category-vlcia","category-water","tag-biomass","tag-brad-lofton","tag-children","tag-earth","tag-economy","tag-edmund-burke","tag-elderly","tag-executive-director","tag-georgia","tag-greed","tag-hahira","tag-health-care","tag-jobs","tag-lowndes-county","tag-martin-luther-king-jr","tag-michael-bryant","tag-naacp","tag-overseas","tag-renewable-energy","tag-sclc","tag-solar","tag-tax-incentives","tag-the-earth-belongs-to-all-mankind","tag-valdosta","tag-valdosta-lowndes-county-industrial-authority","tag-vlcia","tag-webb-miller-community-church","tag-wiregrass-power-llc"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-FN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2591\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}