"Jesus Loves the Little Children" (page 2 of 2)

Continue viewing pictures of the event.
Children's choir waits in Prayer Chapel to sing out joyously.
Adult choir prays for God to "Use Me" to bring in a Kingdom of Justice.
Praise Band earns its name.
We love the Lord in song.
Soloist Millie Edwards delivers a breathtaking rendition of "Use Me."
Rev. Wallace S. Hartsfield enjoins us to "not be comforted" when our children are lost to violence.
Pastor Bill prays for us to offer Christ Jesus our gifts and lives.
Pastor Mark celebrates the Lord's Supper.
Communion is served to everyone.
We commit ourselves to live into the resurrection hope that all God's children will live peaceably together without further violence.
Read details of the event below. ===================================== Be sure to "click" on the pictures throughout to see LARGER versions. Then click the "BACK" button to return to where you left off.

WHY: Just before Sunday School began on September 15, 1963, a powerful dynamite bomb was planted under the steps of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama by the Ku Klux Klan. This terrorist act of racism resulted in the brutal death of four little girls, the injury of many others and massive destruction to the Baptist church.

Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley were dressed in their "Youth Sunday" best, ready to lead the 11 a.m. adult service at the church, which, since its construction in 1911, had served as the center of life for the Birmingham African American community. They were together in the basement women's room, excitedly talking about their first days at school when the bomb exploded. The image of Jesus' face was knocked cleanly out of the only surviving stained-glass window in the church's east wall, and the church clock stopped tragically at 10:22 a.m.

In the days that followed, many people--even some with Confederate license plates--visited the grieving families to express their outrage and sorrow. At the funeral for three of the girls (one family preferred a separate, private funeral), Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke about life being "as hard as crucible steel." More than 8,000 mourners, including 800 white and black clergy, attended the service. Not a single Birmingham city official braved the crowds to attend.

It has taken 39 long years to bring the perpetrators to justice for their violent crimes against church and children. On Sunday, September 15, 2002, an ecumenical array of area churches in Kansas City, Missouri, brought together and sponsored by the Northeast Ministerial Alliance, came together as one body to share a vibrant worship service at Independence Boulevard Christian Church (DOC). This happened in tandem with a memorial service simultaneously underway at 16th Street Baptist Church, in Birmingham. Our collective worship stood against racism and passionately affirmed the right of all children everywhere to be loved and safe in church and around the world.

On this important occasion, we were honored to have Reverend Wallace S. Hartsfield, Pastor of Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church, as our preacher. Pastors of participating churches shared worship roles, and here and in Birmingham, carillon bells rang out at 10:22, the time of the bombing. The churches in Kansas City and Birmingham sang the same, familiar hymn, and adults and children rehearsed an hour before worship in two separate choirs.