Samuel Proctor - "The Right Person, The Right Place, The Right Time" (January 16, 1994) / Duke Chapel Recordings / Duke Digital Repository

(organ music)

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Good morning and welcome to this

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service of worship in Duke University Chapel.

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Our guest preacher today

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is Dr. Samuel Proctor.

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We're fortunate that Dr. Proctor is now

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in residence at Duke Divinity school.

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And this is his first of four different appearances

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here in the chapel during this semester.

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And we welcome Dr. Proctor back to this pulpit

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that he has graced on so many occasions.

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We also welcome, leading us in our music today,

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the Modern Black Mass Choir and they join

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the Duke Chapel Choir for this service.

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The flowers are given today

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by the R. Taylor Cole Endowment Fund

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in memory of Dr. Cole.

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Tonight at 6:30, there will be a celebration

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of the life and words of Dr. Martin Luther King

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here in the chapel at 6:30.

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It's a cold morning, but we're glad you're here.

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And we plan to warm your spirits

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during this time of worship.

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Let us stand for greeting.

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The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ

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be with you.

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Congregation

And also With You.

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The splendor of Christ shines upon us.

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Congregation

Praise the Lord.

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(organ music)

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♪ Lift every voice and sing ♪

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♪ Till earth and heaven ring ♪

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♪ Ring with the harmonies of liberty ♪

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♪ Let our rejoicing rise ♪

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♪ High as the listening skies ♪

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♪ Let it resound ♪

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♪ Loud as the rolling seas ♪

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♪ Sing a song ♪

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♪ full of the faith that the dark past has taught us ♪

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♪ Sing a song ♪

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♪ Full of the hope that the present has brought us ♪

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♪ Facing the rising sun of our new day begun ♪

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♪ Let us march till victory is won ♪

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♪ Stony the road we trod ♪

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♪ Bitter the chast'ning rod ♪

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♪ Felt in the days when hope unborn had died ♪

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♪ Yet with a steady beat ♪

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♪ Have not our weary feet ♪

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♪ Come to the place for which our fathers sighed ♪

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♪ We have come over a way that with tears has been watered. ♪

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♪ We have come, treading our path ♪

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♪ through the blood of the slaughtered ♪

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♪ Out from the gloomy past ♪

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♪ Till now we stand at last ♪

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♪ Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast ♪

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♪ God of our weary years, ♪

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♪ God of our silent tears, ♪

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♪ Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way; ♪

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♪ Thou who hast by Thy might, ♪

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♪ Led us into the light, ♪

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♪ Keep us forever in the path, we pray. ♪

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♪ Lest our feet stray from the places ♪

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♪ our God, where we met Thee ♪

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♪ Lest our hearts, ♪

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♪ drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee ♪

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♪ Shadowed beneath Thy hand, ♪

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♪ May we forever stand, ♪

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♪ True to our God, ♪

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♪ True to our native land. ♪

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Almighty God,

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you created in us a hunger for hope

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a thirst for justice

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a yearning for ultimate truth,

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pure beauty and clear vision.

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Thus we have come before you, lifting our voices is song

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and offering our prayers and our praise.

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Do not send us away empty, good Lord.

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Touch us with your power.

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Kindle in us a new awareness of your presence.

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Speak to us your words.

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Call us by name.

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In the name of your son, Jesus, we pray.

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Amen.

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Be seated.

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Let us pray together the prayer for illumination.

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Congregation

Open our hearts and minds, oh God

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by the power of your Holy Spirit.

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So that as the word is read in a good way

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we may hear your message and endure this day.

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This reading is taken from the first book of Samuel,

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chapter three, the first 10 verses.

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Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli.

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The word of the Lord was rare in those days;

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visions were not widespread.

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At that time Eli,

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whose eyesight had begun to grow dim

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so that he could not see, was lying down in his room.

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The lamp of God had not yet gone out,

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and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord,

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where the ark of God was.

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Then the Lord called Samuel, Samuel

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and he said, "Here I am!"

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and ran to Eli and said, "Here I am, for you called me."

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But he said, "I did not call; lie down again."

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So he went and lay down.

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The Lord called him again, "Samuel!"

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Samuel got up and went to Eli and said,

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"Here I am, for you called me."

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But he said, "I did not call, my son; lie down again."

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Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord,

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and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.

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The Lord called Samuel again the third time.

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And he arose and went to Eli and said,

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"Here I am, for you called me."

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Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy.

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Therefore Eli said to Samuel,

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"Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say,

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'Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.'"

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So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

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Now the Lord came and stood, calling as before,

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"Samuel! Samuel!"

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And Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant is listening."

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This is the word of the Lord.

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Congregation

Thanks be to God.

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The Psalm appointed for this Sunday is number 139,

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verses one through six

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and versus 13 through 18.

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These are found on pages 854 and 855 in your hymnal.

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Please rise, and we will sing

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the psalm and the gloria responsively.

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(organ music)

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♪ O Lord, you have searched me and known me! ♪

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♪ You know when I sit down and when I rise up; ♪

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♪ you discern my thoughts from afar. ♪

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♪ You search out my path and my lying down ♪

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♪ and are acquainted with all my ways. ♪

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♪ Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, ♪

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♪ you know it altogether. ♪

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♪ You pursue me, behind and before, ♪

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♪ and lay your hand upon me. ♪

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♪ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; ♪

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♪ it is high; I cannot attain it. ♪

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♪ For it was you who formed my inward parts ♪

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♪ you knitted me together in my mother's womb. ♪

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♪ I praise you, for you are fearful and wonderful. ♪

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♪ Wonderful are your works ♪

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♪ You know me very well ♪

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♪ My frame was not hidden from you, ♪

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♪ when I was being made in secret, ♪

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♪ intricately woven in the depths of the earth. ♪

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♪ Your eyes beheld my unformed substance ♪

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♪ in your book were written ♪

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♪ the days that were formed for me, ♪

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♪ Every day your name is to me ♪

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♪ How profound to me are your thoughts, O God! ♪

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♪ How vast is the sum of them! ♪

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♪ If I would count them, they are more than the sand. ♪

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♪ When I am awake, and I am still with you. ♪

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♪ All glory be to you, creator ♪

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♪ And to Jesus Christ our savior ♪

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♪ And to the Holy Spirit ♪

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♪ The Trinity ♪

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♪ As it was in the ere time began ♪

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♪ Is now, and will be forevermore ♪

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Please, be seated.

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-

This reading is from the first chapter of the gospel

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according to Saint John, beginning with the 43rd verse.

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The next day, Jesus decided to go to Galilee.

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He found Philip and said to him, follow me.

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Now Philip was from Bethsaida,

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the city of Andrew and Peter.

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Philip found Nathanael and said to him,

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"We have found him whom Moses and the law

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and also the prophets wrote

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Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth."

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Nathanael said to him,

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"Can anything good come from Nazareth?"

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Philip said to him, "Come and see."

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When Jesus saw Nathaniel coming towards him, he said of him,

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"Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit."

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Nathaniel said to him, "where did you get to know me?"

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Jesus answered, "I saw you under the fig tree

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before Philip found you."

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Then Nathanael replied,

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"Rabbi, you are the Son of God-the King of Israel!"

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Jesus answered, "Do you believe because I told you

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I saw you under the fig tree?

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You will see greater things than these."

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And he said to him, "Very truly, I tell you,

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you will all see heaven opened

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and the angels of God ascending and descending

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upon the Son of Man."

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This is the word of the Lord.

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Congregation

Thanks be to God.

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(organ music)

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♪ Hold on just a little while longer ♪

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♪ Hold on just a little while longer ♪

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♪ Hold on just a little while longer ♪

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♪ Everything will be alright ♪

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♪ Hold on just a little while longer ♪

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♪ Hold on ♪

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♪ Hold on just a little while longer ♪

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♪ Hold on ♪

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♪ Hold on just a little while longer ♪

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♪ Everything is gonna be alright ♪

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♪ He is coming soon ♪

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♪ It wont' be very long ♪

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♪ You're gonna look for me and I'll be gone ♪

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♪ I'll be up around God's great throne ♪

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♪ Oh you got to hold on ♪

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♪ Hold on just a little while longer ♪

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♪ Hold on ♪

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♪ Hold on just a little while longer ♪

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♪ Hold on ♪

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♪ Hold on just a little while longer ♪

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♪ Everything's gonna be alright ♪

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♪ Amazing grace how sweet the sound ♪

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♪ That saved a wretch like me ♪

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♪ I once was lost but now am found ♪

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♪ I was blind but now I see ♪

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♪ You've got to pray ♪

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♪ Hold on just a little while longer ♪

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♪ You gotta pray ♪

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♪ Hold on just a little while longer ♪

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♪ Pray ♪

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♪ Hold on just a little while longer ♪

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♪ Everything's gonna be alright ♪

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♪ Ooh ♪

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♪ Ooh ♪

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♪ Everything's gonna be alright ♪

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♪ Everything's gonna be alright ♪

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♪ I said everything's ♪

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♪ Will be alright ♪

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♪ Ahh ♪

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I keep forgetting every time I

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come to this pulpit rasham

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I've got to move something here.

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(laughter)

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Dean Villomen puts that there to remind me

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that this is his pulpit and not mine.

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(laughter)

22:25

Last night it was about eight degrees at the Newark airport

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where I was

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and it was only 12 degrees at the Ratadam airport.

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So I had to call up down here

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and tell the dean that it could be

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that the planes would not go.

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Would not be able to land.

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You know, they are mechanical things. And they freeze.

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And I'm so grateful therefor,

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that things worked out that I could be here

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at the appointed hour.

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I wanted to apologize to him this morning

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but as I thought about it, he did get some benefit out of it

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because his, his prayer life was strengthened greatly.

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(laughter)

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By the whole event.

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And then to see all of you here today

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with this frigid temperature. That's impressive.

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But for a lowly Baptist to be among Methodists

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on a cold day like this,

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causes me to think about the words of John Wessler

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that rare spiritual experience that he had at Alder's gate.

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He said that his heart was strangely warmed.

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I hope that being around all of you Methodists

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that not just my heart, but all of the rest of me

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might be strangely warmed.

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What an honor it is to be here in celebration

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of the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr.

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There's hardly any experience that we have

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that does not relate to something

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that we find on the scriptures.

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The record of the god-human encounter

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over so many centuries.

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And when I think of Martin Luther King Jr.

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The right person, at the right place, at the right time

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I think of young Queen Esther.

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And these words from her cousin Mordechai to her.

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When the moment came that is was dangerous

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for Esther to go in and tell who she really was

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to own up to the fact that she belonged

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to those persecuted people.

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Mordechai said to her these words.

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Think not, that in in the king's palace

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you will escape any more than all the other Jews.

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For if you keep silence at such a time as this

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relief and deliverance will rise

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for the Jews from another quarter.

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But you and your father's house will perish.

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And here is the line we need right now.

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Who knows whether you had not come to the kingdom

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for such a time as this?

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The Book of Esther, the fourth chapter, verse 14.

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who knows rather you have not come to the kingdom

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for such a time as this.

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Now many of you will remember the story of Queen Esther.

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The story has a setting. It was when the Persians

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had conquered Babylon, had taken over.

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And then they had come to power, another one of those kings

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with absolute authority over everybody and every thing

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he had a large harem.

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Queen Bashtai was in charge of it.

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And they had these royal parties, you know.

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They lasted for days and days.

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And everyone became inebriated.

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so when the king was in one of these parties

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in a drunken stupor,

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I don't know who gave him the idea

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but he thought that he could order Basthai

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to come on out and model before all of his guests.

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Just show how beautiful she really was.

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He did not know that women's liberation had already begun

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and Basthai was in no mood to be used like that.

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So I don't know what the words were

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that Basthai used, I never learned that language.

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But I know it was something really strident because

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Basthai said she was not gonna come out

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and parade anymore before his guests.

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Reminds me of a lady who had a lot of money

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who had had a made for many many years and

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the maid had died. She went looking for another maid

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just like the one she had had for a long time.

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And she thought that things were the same as they had been.

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So when she brought in this fine young maid

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she asked about her references and where she had been.

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And then she said, now Nancy,

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I want to say something to you.

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I am a woman of a very few words.

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And when you see me do my finger like that

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I mean come here.

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Did you understand?

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Nancy said, yes, Mrs. Codwright.

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I'm a woman of a very few words too.

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And when you see my head go like that,

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that means I ain't coming.

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(laughter)

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So Basthai did her head like that and said to the king,

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I'm not parading before your guests anymore.

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Well, that meant that he had to have a beauty contest

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to find another queen for the harem.

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And in the course of events, young Esther was chosen.

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But he did not know that she belonged to that minority

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the captive people, the Jewish people,

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who had been brought into Babylon

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in the period that we call the captivity.

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And Esther was designated to reign over the harem.

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He did not know that Esther had a cousin out front

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who was praying for her every day.

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Wondering if they would discover

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what her real ethnic background was and then punish her.

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Perhaps even execute her.

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Then things went from bad to worse.

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The king gave an edict.

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That all of those people, those Jewish people

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who worship another god, who do not bow down before me,

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these people must all be slaughtered

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unless they change their ways. And the word got out.

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Mordechai was really disturbed

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and he began to march up and down in front of the gates,

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praying for his young cousin Esther.

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And then people found out who he was.

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And they were going to punish him.

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And that's when Esther, Mordechai closed in on her and said

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now Esther, when it comes your time to go into the king

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you go in and tell him who you really are.

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Though she was in charge of the whole harem and the queen,

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she couldn't go into the king whenever she wanted to.

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She had to wait until she was sent for.

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And by the way, before going in,

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she had to soak herself in one kind of oil for six months.

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And another kind of oil for another six months.

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It's hard to imagine today,

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how subjugated women were.

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They don't tell us whether the king even had a bath.

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But Esther had to soak for a whole year

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before she was qualified to go in to the king.

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Alright, when the time came, Mordechai said to Esther,

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tell them who you are and ask the king to do something

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for our people, to save us.

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That's when Esther, now cousin Mordechai,

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it doesn't work that way.

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You're not allowed to say anything to the king

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on your own imitative.

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You must wait until you're asked.

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He's got to touch you on the head, you know, with his wand.

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And then you can speak.

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And that's when Mordechai said to her in so many words

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your situation is different.

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Your people are in a desperate situation.

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You have this kind of power and

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you are an insider in the king's palace.

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You aught to take this upon yourself

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to do something special for your people.

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You've got to take a chance. You've got to speak.

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Don't think now that because you're so beautiful

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and you're the queen there that you're going to last.

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When they find out who you are

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you're gonna go just like the rest of us.

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And then he called her to a kind of

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a sense of vocation about this matter.

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Esther, who knows

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that you have come to the kingdom

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for just such a time as this?

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And you know how the story ends. Esther did speak.

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And the persons who sought to do her harm were punished.

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And it all had a happy ending.

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But that test says something to us

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about Martin Luther King Jr.

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I knew King.

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I knew him long before he became a theological student.

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I knew his family in Atlanta.

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And I talked to him a lot when he was at Crozer Seminary.

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That was my seminary. I went back there frequently

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for various convocations and so forth.

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We always ended up in his room late at night.

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And he had a kind of maturity

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that one would find rare for a person so young.

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But Martin Luther King Jr would say to me things like this.

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He'd say, Dr. Proctor,

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I don't want to be an ordinary Baptist preacher.

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I want to be an intellectual Baptist preacher

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like Mordechai Johnson and Benjamin Maze, Howard Therman.

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And he said this with deep conviction.

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I want to be like that.

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He did not go down to Montgomery Alabama

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to be on the front cover of Time magazine

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as a civil rights leader.

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He did not go down there to be arrested,

32:21

to be fingerprinted, handcuffed, and jailed.

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He went down there to be the pastor

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of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.

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Where Brennan Johns had been the pastor.

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A church known for having outstanding ministers.

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Brennan Johns had been a graduate

32:39

of the Obalan Graduate School of Theology

32:41

and was a fine intellectual preacher

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with great, great spiritual convictions.

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And a person keen to civil rights.

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Martin Luther King was proud to succeed him.

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Things were going well.

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I remember being down there with him

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shortly after he had begun his pastorate.

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He had me down there for the men's spring lecture series.

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He didn't want to have a revival.

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He didn't want all of that noise around his church.

33:08

He wanted a spring lecture series.

33:10

He didn't realize he was gonna get the noise anyway

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even in a spring lecture series.

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He had all of these faculty people

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from Alabama State College in the church.

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He use to boast to me, saying,

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Sam, you know, I've got 39 PhDs in my congregation.

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And of course, I found that a good opportunity to reply

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saying well Martin, you've got 39 PhDs,

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how many Christians do you have in your congregation?

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(laughter)

33:42

He didn't' know that I knew why he had 39 PhDs.

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One of the deacons in the church

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was the president of the college.

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And if you wanted to get tenure

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on the faculty of the college,

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somehow strangely out of the mist and the darkness

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you would have to join the president's church over there.

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And that was another PhD added to the roster.

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Martin Luther King enjoyed that.

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He enjoyed wearing one of those preacher looking coats.

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And those funny looking black shoes that turn up on the toe.

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I don't know where preachers buy those shoes from.

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And an ascot tie.

34:16

He dressed like a preacher.

34:19

Learned how to talk like a preacher.

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And he read books and he was eloquent.

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That's what he wanted to do.

34:25

Down the line, I think he wanted to become

34:27

the president of the Morehouse College.

34:29

All Morehouse men seemed themselves destined

34:30

to become the president of Morehouse College

34:33

and I think he was no different.

34:35

He wanted to be another Benjamin Maze.

34:37

But the day came when all of the

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best laid plans of mice and men, you know.

34:44

When Rosa Parks was asked to move on the bus

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and would not move.

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The day came just like the day came of Esther.

34:54

When he had to put up or shut up.

34:57

For you who are very young,

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you may not know what the circumstances were.

35:04

But in those days,

35:06

black people sat up at the front of a railroad train

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because that's where the coal dust was.

35:13

But that sat in the back of the buses

35:16

because that's where the diesel fumes were.

35:17

So it depended on where you were

35:21

whether you were up front or in the back.

35:22

But on the bus, black people filled up from the back forward

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and white people filled up from the front backwards.

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And on a bus that was not much traveled,

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a route that was not really too busy,

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you could sit anywhere you wanted to

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and not fear being bothered.

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Rosa Parks just sat down.

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Didn't have many people on the bus when she got on.

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But then as the bus began to fill up,

35:44

the white passengers reached to the point where she was.

35:47

And according to the rules, she was asked to stand

35:50

and give her seat to someone else and move farther back.

35:54

No one knows what happened to that woman on that day.

35:58

There's a topic for someone doing research

36:03

in social psychology.

36:07

What were the antecedents to Rosa Parks decision?

36:08

She was no philosopher. She was no agitator.

36:12

She belonged to the NAACP. She was an active person.

36:14

But what caused her to feel that the time had come

36:18

to make an issue of this? She was a soft voiced person.

36:22

No makeup, no cigarette, no cursing, none of that.

36:28

Sweet lady, with her hair combed back in a soft bun

36:33

just like she does it even until now.

36:36

Wire rimmed eye glasses.

36:39

Seems to me, the bus driver aught to know

36:41

not to bother that woman

36:43

and start a world revolution, you know.

36:45

He aught to pick somebody else, you know.

36:48

But he didn't have much judgment about it.

36:51

And he bothered her.

36:54

And by the way, we can't find that bus driver.

36:55

Nobody knows what happened to him.

36:58

(laughter)

37:00

You know, whether he shot himself

37:01

or joined the NACP,

37:03

we don't know what happened to the bus driver.

37:05

We found the woman who did not serve the young men

37:08

in the fountain at the Woolworth store in Greensboro.

37:11

Oh they sent for me to come back down there in 1980

37:14

and we had a great big celebration.

37:17

She came down from Ohio looking good.

37:19

Had her hair dyed blue and her eyes shadowed.

37:22

Oh, she was glamorous.

37:25

And she told us she wanted to serve them,

37:27

but the boss just wouldn't let her serve them.

37:29

So she got on television and everything. We found her.

37:30

But we can't find the bus driver. Someone said,

37:34

we need to drag the bottom of all the rivers

37:38

to see if he jumped overboard somewhere

37:40

when he found out that he created Martin Luther King Jr.

37:43

Well, the day came.

37:48

Rosa Parks would not move and was arrested.

37:51

That night, all of the black people in town had a meeting.

37:53

Including those 39 PhDs who belonged to

37:55

Martin Luther King's church. And they met in his church.

37:58

Who's gonna lead this thing?

38:01

We cannot settle now for pink tea and cookie sessions.

38:03

We've talked enough about brotherhood, you know,

38:07

and understanding and tolerance.

38:09

We've got to do something.

38:11

They arrested the finest and the best we've got.

38:13

You know, existentialism in a textbook

38:16

as a ponderous king of philosophical topic.

38:19

But every now and then, you see what

38:22

existentialism is really all about.

38:24

That's when the truth comes to you vertically.

38:26

From the crown of your head right though

38:29

the sole of your feet.

38:31

No antecedents you can identify

38:33

and no trajectory going forward. La moment, as Satra said.

38:35

And there was the moment.

38:41

And King was sitting there and they said,

38:43

Martin, you're the only one here who can lead this movement.

38:45

You've got a PhD from Boston University,

38:48

they don't want a PhD in jail around here.

38:51

Your parents are able to bail you out of jail.

38:54

We don't have anyone to bail us out.

38:56

You don't have any debts around here.

38:58

Our wives are teaching school.

39:01

We have mortgages and all of that.

39:02

We can't do anything about this.

39:04

He became the leader by default.

39:07

By everyone else saying no.

39:10

And that looks like a common sense sort of a thing.

39:14

But those of us who are spiritual beings

39:17

believe that God has Gods hands

39:20

on the throttle of history all the time.

39:23

And there was Martin Luther King.

39:26

It's sort of like the apostle Paul

39:29

being available and ready when the Christian gospel

39:31

needed Paul to speak in Greek and in Hebrew.

39:36

Had that kind of nervous energy that did not ever allow him

39:40

to get tired, intractable energy.

39:44

The kind of a nervous temperament.

39:48

That's the kind of person it would take.

39:51

Who could be beaten and left bleeding, ready to die.

39:53

And then rise up saying, none of these things move me.

39:57

Leave account I might like dare unto myself.

40:00

There he was with Roman citizenship.

40:04

Roman roads were laid out.

40:06

The Greek language was lying there,

40:08

waiting for something more important to say.

40:10

Everything was ready.

40:14

It all happened where three continents converge.

40:16

Africa, Asia, Europe. Then came the apostle Paul.

40:19

Ready to do service for God.

40:23

And there was Martin Luther King.

40:26

And that's why I say, seems to me that he was

40:27

the right man, and the right place, at the right time.

40:30

You know, IU have to give this Martin Luther King speech

40:35

about 12 times a year for 30 years.

40:38

And I tell you, I never get tired of talking about him.

40:41

You may not enjoy it at all, but let me tell you something,

40:45

I enjoy talking to you about him.

40:49

It was such a high moment in our history.

40:53

The right man. Look at how prepared he was for it.

40:55

Born in a Baptist parsonage.

40:59

His grandfather had been active in civil rights. His father.

41:02

His mother, saintly woman, a graduate of Spell man College.

41:07

An organist in the church. Oh, he was ready.

41:10

King's home was frequented

41:14

by black people coming to the city.

41:16

You know, back in those days, I suppose any of you

41:18

who are preachers children will remember how

41:20

the preacher's home was like the local Hilton or Marriott.

41:22

People who didn't have money to stay somewhere else,

41:27

they stayed in the parson's.

41:29

After all, the church owned the parsonage.

41:30

King's home was just like that.

41:33

People would come though, Canning Tobias, Mordechai Johnson.

41:35

King said to me, he would come home from school

41:39

and he didn't know who would be sitting there

41:41

at the table having conversation.

41:44

And he would just draw up a chair,

41:45

Raff Punch would be there, somebody,

41:47

learn from all of these greats of the day.

41:49

Look at what preparation he had.

41:52

He went to Morehouse College.

41:55

Hard for me to say anything great about Morehouse,

41:57

I'm not a Morehouse alumnus. But I have to admit now

42:00

it had done a marvelous job

42:03

in producing leadership for our people.

42:04

Morehouse had a strong tradition.

42:07

Born at the time when all

42:10

of these Baptist and Methodist colleges were founded

42:12

right after the Civil War.

42:16

We have colleges right here in North Carolina

42:17

founded at the same time with the same spirit.

42:19

Presbyterians came down here,

42:22

Johnson C. Smith, Barber-Scotia, then Old Scotia Seminary.

42:24

The Baptists were here with Shaw University.

42:28

The Methodists were here with Bennett College.

42:31

This generation needs to know

42:33

what a great intervention it was.

42:35

God only know what would have happened to black people

42:37

if those 105 colleges had not been established.

42:40

Dr. James Mackfirst up at Princeton has written

42:43

a marvelous book called the Abolitionist Letters.

42:46

In which he talks about the founding of these schools.

42:50

And let me say to you, the United Methodists

42:53

were greatly in the leadership of founding of

42:55

these black colleges all across the country.

42:57

Georgia Baptist College was brought to Atlanta.

43:01

And then it was later named Morehouse College,

43:04

named for Henry R. Morehouse,

43:06

who had been one of the executives

43:08

who raised money for that school.

43:09

The school was founded by persons

43:13

who wanted to see black people enlightened.

43:15

And a new leadership had to develop

43:18

right after the Civil War.

43:20

And Morehouse was so successful because John Hope

43:22

who became one of it's first presidents

43:25

just happened to be the classmate of

43:27

John D. Rockefeller, Jr. in 1895 and Brown University.

43:30

Now you gotta pick a classmate

43:35

in your plan to be a college president.

43:37

Pick John D. Rockefeller, Jr to be your classmate.

43:40

And the Rockefeller family became interested

43:44

in Spell man and Morehouse

43:46

and greatly endowed those two institutions.

43:48

All of this was Martin Luther King's heritage.

43:50

And then from there he went to Crozer Seminary.

43:54

Crozer Seminary was not an ordinary school at that time.

43:57

They did not sit around

44:00

reciting bible verses one to another.

44:01

They'd analyze religion from an historical point of view.

44:04

It forced you to take this bible and chronologize it

44:07

with all of the best scholarship you could find.

44:11

It forced you to go and have your own theological statement

44:14

about God and sin and Satan and demons and angels.

44:18

You were not allowed to come in there

44:22

with your inherited religion

44:23

and just recite that, you know.

44:24

With no authority whatsoever.

44:27

You had to gain your own licencee to preach.

44:28

I remember when I came out

44:32

of my first class in New Testament.

44:33

The way that man ripped up that new testament, it was awful.

44:36

I felt like going back home.

44:40

Saying, I'm gonna sell insurance.

44:41

I can't, I have nothing to preach about

44:42

when he got through with my bible.

44:44

And Woodrow Haysfear, Waite Forest alum

44:46

from right here in east Carolina,

44:48

came out of class with me.

44:50

He said, Sam, I feel like Mary at the tomb.

44:52

What do you mean?

44:55

They've taken away my Lord

44:57

and I do not know where they have laid him.

44:59

(laughter)

45:01

Crozer made you go and write down your own religion.

45:04

So when Martin Luther King finished Crozer,

45:08

he could speak with some authority.

45:11

Because they did not allow him to walk through there

45:12

untouched, with plastic boots on.

45:15

He had to walk through there standing tall

45:18

and stating his own faith for himself.

45:21

At that time, Boff University emphasized

45:24

emphasized the social application of the Christian gospel.

45:27

King had all of this that he brought

45:33

to that room that night as Rosa Parks was arrested.

45:35

And they said, King, you've got to lead us.

45:39

It was just like lighting a torch.

45:42

All of the elements were there. He was ready.

45:44

The right man, for this kind of job.

45:47

Then it was the right place. It was Montgomery, Alabama.

45:51

O'Connell was in Alabama. George Wallace was there.

45:56

You could not have imagined a more

46:00

fruitful confrontation than Martin Luther King

46:03

with his equipment standing face to face

46:06

the bull Conner and Governor Wallace.

46:09

King felt that all the history of black people

46:13

had just washed into his life like a mighty tide.

46:17

He could not turn around.

46:21

And when you heard him speak,

46:23

he had a kind of a mystical tremor in his voice.

46:24

And he spoke with a kind of authority.

46:28

He had that old fashioned

46:30

Baptist pulpit cadence in his speech.

46:33

But behind all of that was a kind of a recapitulation

46:36

of all of the experiences of black people

46:40

he thought that he had brought from Morehouse,

46:43

from Atlanta, kind of a mandate

46:45

to rise up to any occasion that he confronted.

46:48

Oh, he was at the right place.

46:51

Right there with Bull Conner

46:53

and Sheriff Clark and Governor Wallace.

46:54

Martin Luther King, the right person at the right place.

46:58

And then he was there at the right time.

47:03

What made the time so right? 1955.

47:08

The NACP, Legal Defense Fund,

47:14

had already won 39 cases.

47:17

Can't you see how they had undone

47:20

the 1896 Plessy-Ferguson decision?

47:24

That gave black people practically no rights at all?

47:28

The NACP had started out with salary equalization

47:32

suits there in Virginia

47:36

and it spread right across the country.

47:37

And across the whole face of the society.

47:40

They had sued there way into swimming pools,

47:43

graduate schools, libraries, cemeteries, everything.

47:46

39 cases had been won. It was like saying, now we've done

47:50

all of the legal work that we can do.

47:54

We've taken down every legal barrier.

47:57

It is now 1955. What's left?

47:59

The supreme court has spoken

48:02

that race has no place in our life.

48:04

With no legal standing what else is there to do?

48:06

There was a lot to do.

48:09

There was the whole task of changing attitudes.

48:11

Desegregation was one thing,

48:15

but integration was another thing.

48:17

Having a kind of a defacto basis for

48:20

one nation under God.

48:24

Having a de jury basis is another thing.

48:27

You can have de jury and not de facto.

48:30

There's some things that the law simply cannot do.

48:34

It cannot change the hears and minds of people.

48:41

Martin Luther King came a time when we had won

48:46

all of the legal victories that needed to be won.

48:49

What we needed then was a prophet.

48:54

To go and stand on the mountain before the Lord

48:56

and cry out for justice and fairness and equality

49:00

and for a new kind of love without violence.

49:04

Call the nation to community.

49:09

Someone who could recognize that it

49:12

was not beyond the pale of our imagination

49:13

to see a nation like ours, 250 million people,

49:17

bound together with no royal family, no dictator,

49:21

nothing like that. No one party system. No state church.

49:28

Just the little constitution.

49:33

With seven articles and the amendments following that.

49:35

Seven articles. You could write all of them

49:38

on the back of McDonald's hamburger box.

49:40

And yet, strong enough

49:43

to include 250 million people together.

49:46

Where else had these many people lived together

49:49

for this length of time?

49:51

With as much civil tranquility as we had? Nowhere.

49:54

But this kind of diversity.

49:58

And King knew enough anthropology.

50:00

He knew enough history and enough philosophy

50:02

and enough ethics to speak of this

50:05

in a reasonable, pragmatic sort of a way.

50:07

And he called us to something new, something novel,

50:10

something unprecedented in the history of the world.

50:14

He was the right man, the right person,

50:18

at the right place and at the right time.

50:21

Speaking of community, I had a South Carolina Baptist

50:25

missionary, retired missionary that called me one day.

50:30

He said Sam, do you think that King is living dangerously?

50:33

Yes. Sam, you and his friends, do you ever guard,

50:38

watch over him and guard him

50:41

against some of these high risks? You can't do that.

50:43

He's given to this cause.

50:46

Sam, is his family, they're protected with insurance?

50:48

I don't know. Could you find out?

50:52

And what are you going to do?

50:55

I'm the new representative, he said.

50:57

For the ministers and missionaries benefit board

50:59

of the American Baptist convention.

51:02

And if he's not covered, I want to see that his is covered.

51:04

Suppose that he has no money.

51:08

He doesn't make a lot of money.

51:09

We have some funds we can use

51:11

to pay up the premium for a whole year.

51:12

Until he can get, you know,

51:15

a chance to take it over himself.

51:16

Just get him to sign the paper. Could you help me?

51:18

If I get to him, I'll tell him you're looking for him.

51:21

You try and I'll try, and we'll try together.

51:24

He went all across the south, a tall, thin,

51:27

white South Carolinian. Balding hair,

51:31

thin features, soft spoken,

51:38

a missionary from Durham retired.

51:41

In his late 60s. His name was Martin England.

51:44

Spartanburg. And everywhere he went, those great big

51:49

black Baptist preachers would say, man, get outta here.

51:52

All you think about is money.

51:55

This man has got his mind on justice and freedom.

51:58

He's not thinking about money.

52:00

All you folks think about is money. Get out of here.

52:01

He called me, he says, Sam, I can't get to him.

52:03

The preachers won't let me get near.

52:06

They said, don't you work for the CIA, the FBI?

52:07

He said, I was not engaged in anything,

52:10

I only wanted to see that he was covered.

52:12

He had heard King speak.

52:14

He was convinced that this was a good thing.

52:16

But he was worried about King being destroyed

52:19

and his family not getting along.

52:21

So I called up some of King's aides and I said,

52:23

the next time you see that man come around,

52:25

don't say those things to him.

52:27

I talked to Abernake, Walter, Fontroy, Wyatt Walker,

52:29

and said let man get to him. And the man got to him.

52:32

And King signed the paper.

52:35

King said to me, Sam, why would a South Carolina

52:37

white man go to all this trouble following me

52:41

from Birmingham to Montgomery to Albany

52:45

just to see to it that my family

52:49

was protected if something happened to me?

52:52

And in 90 days, King was shot to death.

52:55

And ever since that moment, his wife and his family

53:00

have been covered by benefits from

53:03

the ministers and missionaries benefits board.

53:05

It's because King had convinced so many people

53:09

of the rightness of the cause.

53:13

And Martin England was a part of the whole movement.

53:16

This was his tiny contribution to it.

53:20

Isn't that symbolic? King has been dead 30 years.

53:25

And Caretta gets a pension today

53:29

that a white South Carolinian provided.

53:32

You talk about community and participation

53:35

and novel things. If you open your eyes and listen,

53:39

you'll see little apertures all around you

53:43

where this thing is not so unreasonable after all.

53:46

Martin England did it.

53:50

And guess who told me that King was dead?

53:52

I got out of a taxi in Dallas

53:54

going to a meeting where I was supposed to

53:56

talk to white teachers about how to

53:58

treat black students in integrated schools.

54:01

I was all filled up with these things that I was gonna say.

54:03

Got out of the airplane, went out to the sidewalk

54:06

and a great big black dude said to me,

54:08

hey mac, you want a taxi?

54:09

I wanted to tell him, my name isn't mac,

54:11

my name is Samuel DeWitt Proctor.

54:13

But he was so big, I thought I'd be Mac for a little while.

54:15

(laughter)

54:18

he said, here's your taxi. And I got in there.

54:20

And there was a young white fella

54:23

with a dirty, smelly tshirt,

54:25

stringy hair all down his back.

54:28

Dirty face and blackheads all over him.

54:32

Sucking on a little brown cigarette butt, just juicy.

54:35

And I tipped him, I said, everybody's gotta be somewhere

54:40

but what am I doing here?

54:42

He turned around and looked at me kinda funny.

54:46

I said, I'm going to the Sheridan downtown in Dallas.

54:49

He said, I know sir, I heard that.

54:51

Then he moved slowly, then he stopped the cab.

54:53

And he said, mister, must be

54:56

you don't know what done happened today.

54:59

He couldn't even speak english well.

55:00

I said, what did happen today?

55:03

You know that young white fella

55:06

with all of that hair strung down his back

55:08

and that dirty tshirt,

55:10

he began to tremble and shake,

55:12

he couldn't drive the car, the cigarette butt dropped.

55:14

I said, what's the matter with you?

55:17

He said, somebody killed Martin Luther King today.

55:19

That's how I got the word.

55:26

If that fella would shake and tremble like that

55:30

to tell me that king was dead,

55:36

it meant that King had reached people

55:39

that he had no idea that he had reached.

55:41

For indeed he was the right person,

55:46

in the right place, and at the right time.

55:49

May God bless you all.

55:53

(organ music)

56:01

♪ We would see Jesus; lo! His star is shining ♪

56:37

♪ Above the stable while the angels sing; ♪

56:47

♪ There in a manger on the hay reclining; ♪

56:56

♪ Haste, let us lay our gifts before the King. ♪

57:05

♪ We would see Jesus, Mary's Son most holy, ♪

57:16

♪ Light of the village life from day to day; ♪

57:25

♪ Shining revealed through every task most lowly, ♪

57:35

♪ The Christ of God, the life, the truth, the way. ♪

57:44

♪ We would see Jesus, on the mountain teaching, ♪

57:54

♪ With all the list'ning people gathered round; ♪

58:05

♪ While birds and flow'rs and sky above are preaching ♪

58:14

♪ The blessedness which simple trust has found. ♪

58:24

♪ We would see Jesus, in His work of healing, ♪

58:35

♪ At eventide before the sun was set; ♪

58:45

♪ Divine and human, in His deep revealing ♪

58:57

♪ Of God *made flesh, in loving service met. ♪

59:03

♪ We would see Jesus, in the early morning, ♪

59:16

♪ Still as of old He calleth, "Follow Me!" ♪

59:26

♪ Let us arise, all meaner service scorning; ♪

59:35

♪ Lord, we are Thine, we give ourselves to Thee ♪

59:45

-

The Lord be with you.

59:59

Congregation

And also with you.

1:00:00

-

Let us pray.

1:00:01

Gracious God, who in every age has condescended

1:00:08

to call women and men into your service,

1:00:14

we stand in awe and gratitude of your call upon us.

1:00:18

Grant that we night have the courage to respond to your call

1:00:24

in such a time as this.

1:00:29

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

1:00:33

Give us, we pray, in our day,

1:00:38

the gifts we need to be faithful.

1:00:39

To speak up boldly in your name.

1:00:42

To participate in your healing and saving work in the world.

1:00:45

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

1:00:49

Lord, you have called us to be your witnesses.

1:00:55

May others look at our lives

1:00:59

ven as they looked at the life of Esther

1:01:01

or Martin Luther King

1:01:03

and see your light reflected through us Lord.

1:01:06

In your mercy, hear our prayer.

1:01:09

This day we give special thanks

1:01:13

for the testimony of your courageous prophets

1:01:15

down through the ages.

1:01:17

Like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

1:01:19

Remembering his lament, that the church

1:01:23

is often a weak, ineffectual voice

1:01:25

with an uncertain sound,

1:01:27

the arch reporter of the status quo.

1:01:29

Christ, may we never be silent in the face of wrong.

1:01:36

May we be disturbers of the status quo.

1:01:41

When that is what you call us to do.

1:01:45

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

1:01:48

We pray for those this day who suffer

1:01:53

because of war, because of racial injustice

1:01:55

or religious hatred, or the cruelty of others.

1:01:58

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

1:02:02

We pray for those who are cold.

1:02:07

For little children who have not enough food to eat.

1:02:10

And no place warm to sleep.

1:02:14

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

1:02:17

We pray for those who are sick

1:02:22

and for those who care for the sick.

1:02:25

And for those who are near to death.

1:02:28

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

1:02:31

We your servants ask for your blessing upon us this day.

1:02:36

And ask for continued strength

1:02:39

so that we might faithfully perform

1:02:42

the service to which you have called each of us.

1:02:45

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

1:02:50

Amen.

1:02:56

Let us offer ourselves and our gifts to God,

1:02:59

for God's work at this time and place.

1:03:01

(piano music)

1:03:04

♪ In that great gettin' up mornin' ♪

1:03:36

♪ Fare ye well, fare ye well ♪

1:03:38

♪ In that great gettin' up mornin' ♪

1:03:40

♪ Fare ye well, fare ye well♪ ♪

1:03:43

♪ Stoppin and tellin about the coming of the Savior ♪

1:03:45

♪ Fare ye well, fare ye well ♪

1:03:48

♪ Stoppin and tellin about the coming of the Savior ♪

1:03:50

♪ Fare ye well, fare ye well ♪

1:03:53

♪ God's gonna up and speak to Gabriel ♪

1:03:55

♪ Fare ye well, fare ye well ♪

1:03:58

♪ Running up behind the altar ♪

1:04:01

♪ Fare ye well, fare ye well ♪

1:04:03

♪ In that great gettin' up mornin' ♪

1:04:05

♪ In that great gettin' up mornin' ♪

1:04:08

♪ In that great gettin' up mornin' ♪

1:04:11

♪ Fare ye well, fare ye well ♪

1:04:13

♪ In that great gettin' up mornin' ♪

1:04:15

♪ Fare ye well, fare ye well ♪

1:04:18

♪ In that great gettin' up mornin' ♪

1:04:20

♪ Fare ye well, fare ye well ♪

1:04:23

♪ In that great gettin' up mornin' ♪

1:04:25

♪ Fare ye well, fare ye well ♪

1:04:28

♪ Then the time shall be forecast ♪

1:04:30

♪ Fare ye well, fare ye well ♪

1:04:33

♪ Oh the judgment day is comin ♪

1:04:35

♪ Fare ye well, fare ye well ♪

1:04:38

♪ Now pick up your silver trumpet ♪

1:04:40

♪ Fare ye well, fare ye well ♪

1:04:43

♪ Blow your trumpet Gabriel ♪

1:04:46

♪ Fare ye well, fare ye well ♪

1:04:48

♪ Lord how long shall I blow it ♪

1:04:51

♪ Fare ye well, fare ye well ♪

1:04:53

♪ Blow it so that people know it ♪

1:04:56

♪ Fare ye well, fare ye well ♪

1:04:58

♪ In that great getting up morning ♪

1:05:00

♪ In that great getting up morning ♪

1:05:03

♪ In that great getting up morning ♪

1:05:05

♪ Fare ye well, fare ye well ♪

1:05:08

♪ In that great getting up morning ♪

1:05:10

♪ Fare ye well, fare ye well ♪

1:05:13

♪ In that great getting up morning ♪

1:05:15

♪ Fare ye well, fare ye well ♪

1:05:18

♪ In that great getting up morning ♪

1:05:21

♪ Fare ye well, fare ye well ♪

1:05:23

♪ Then you'll see that cotton bursting ♪

1:05:26

♪ Fare ye well, fare ye well ♪

1:05:28

♪ And the travels come and freed them ♪

1:05:31

♪ Fare ye well, fare ye well ♪

1:05:33

♪ Though shall leave the camp and burn it ♪

1:05:36

♪ Fare ye well, fare ye well ♪

1:05:38

♪ And that dragon shall be loosed ♪

1:05:41

♪ Fare ye well, fare ye well ♪

1:05:43

♪ Then you'll see the moon a bleeding ♪

1:05:46

♪ Fare ye well, fare ye well ♪

1:05:49

♪ You will see the stars a sparklin ♪

1:05:51

♪ Fare ye well, fare ye well ♪

1:05:54

♪ In that great getting up morning ♪

1:05:56

♪ In that great getting up morning ♪

1:05:59

♪ in that great getting up morning ♪

1:06:01

♪ Fare ye well, fare ye well ♪

1:06:04

♪ In that great getting up morning ♪

1:06:06

♪ Fare ye well, fare ye well ♪

1:06:09

♪ In that great getting up morning ♪

1:06:11

♪ Fare ye well, fare ye well ♪

1:06:14

♪ Fare ye well, fare ye well ♪

1:06:16

♪ Fare ye well, fare ye well ♪

1:06:22

Samuel Proctor - "The Right Person, The Right Place, The Right Time" (January 16, 1994)

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