MEDINA, Ohio -- On Monday (Jan. 20), the day dedicated to the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a crowd of 150 people gathered on a snowy evening at St. Matthew Evangelical Lutheran Church to celebrate King’s accomplishments and to demonstrate unity.
The evening began with a welcome from the Rev. William Biehm, interim pastor of the church, who called for unity among the people of God.
Next, the Rev. Arthur Ruffin of Medina’s Second Baptist Church welcomed the congregation and asked everyone to stand and shake hands with their neighbors, followed by the singing of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” a hymn first performed as a poem in 1919 and often referred to as the Black National Anthem.
Medina High School student Aaron Reising performs "Amazing Grace" on the trumpet during the Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration at St. Matthew Evangelical Lutheran Church in Medina. (Mary Jane Brewer, special to cleveland.com)
The Rev. John Peterson of Fellowship Baptist Church read a passage from Scripture before the Rev. Pete Ryder of the Medina Church of the Nazarene offered a prayer. The praise team from Second Baptist Church sang a rousing rendition of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” accompanied by swaying and clapping of the audience.
The main speaker, the Rev. Dr. Robert Meyer of Wayne Presbyterian Church in Wooster, referred to his MLK Day message as an “awesome responsibility.” He began by talking about an evangelical service in Tennessee in the early 1950s where the Rev. Billy Graham removed a rope dividing the white audience from the black.
Meyer went on to talk about how 11 a.m. is the most segregated hour in America, despite the fact that every church should be a place of unity.
Aaron Reising, a Medina High School student and parishioner at St. Matthew, played the hymn “Amazing Grace” on his trumpet, accompanied on the piano by Medina County Treasurer John Burke.
Then the Rev. Luke Lindon of Medina United Church of Christ Congregational asked the audience to write on a piece of paper that had been handed to them on the way into the church. Their word or words were to list something that he or she felt was equivalent to a “rope” dividing people.
Some examples were “hate,” “fear,” “racism” or “pride.” Each person brought his paper to the front of the church, where they stirred the paper into water in a Baptismal font, where it dissolved -- symbolically eliminating their barrier to unity.
Following the singing of “We Shall Overcome” and a short message by Mayor Dennis Hanwell, the congregation, made up of people from multiple churches in Medina, exited the building, accompanied by smiles and friendly chatter.
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