Mission From God

I am not a civil rights activist,

I am not a protester,

and I am not a pacifist.

I am not a Republican and I am not a Democrat....

I am an American citizen, and a son of Mississippi.

I am a warrior.

And I am on a mission from God.

--James Meredith, Mission From God, p. xiii

 

I cried when I read these words from James Meredith's Preface to his new book, Mission From God.

 

Immediately, I knew that I loved this man -- not because he was a "civil rights" pioneer -- in his own words, he was not;   -- not because of his courage, or his willingness to face death -- which indeed, he was.  But I love him because he is a mystic.  He reminds of St. Paul, who wrote, "Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!" 

 

Paul traveled the Roman world and many times faced death, beatings with rods, shipwreck, inprisonment, hunger, cold -- because he had to, because he had no choice in the matter; he had a mission for God which could not be denied.  General Russell Honore, the man who restored order and brought help to New Orleans after Katrina, once told a group of men: the two greatest days of a man's life are the day he is born and the day he discovers why God put him on this earth.

 

James Meredith knew from a young age that he had been put on this earth -- and in the state of Mississippi--because he had a mission from God:

 

My father, quite literally, put me on a mission from God.  "You must bring together the best of the white and the best of the black and save the world," he explained to me..."God wants to preserve the best from both worlds and build a new reality.  We are the passageway for the best of both worlds.  It's God's will and nothing can stand in the way of God's purpose.

"We are the future of the human race.  We are the channel through which the future of the black race is destined to pass.  We are the chosen family.  Mississippi is the incubator and we are the conduit. 

It is your duty and responsibility to lead our people to their proper place in the world" (p.33).

 

Reading Meredith's words makes me so grateful for the mission I was given many years ago-- to teach at Delgado Community College in New Orleans.  I knew my mission from the moment I walked onto the campus and looked into the faces of my first class of developmental English students, most of whom were black -- and the first of their families to attend college.  As products of New Orleans public schools, many if not most, were totatlly unprepared for college.  Their reading skills were poor; their writing indicated a lack of familiarity with the most common words of the language.  They had not been read to as children, because their often single mothers had to earn a living instead of staying home with their infants.  And the public schools were so riddled with gangs and violence that the teachers could barely control the classrooms.  I could tell that these students were just waiting to fail once again -- and I was determined with the grace of God not to allow that to happen.

 

I will go back to James Meredith's words at the end of his book, because his message is so important to the future of America:

 

For much of my life I thought God and I were partners, and I was the senior partner.  I freely admit that I have a colossal ego, and I have been so convinced that I am literally on a mission from God that I have often acted like a man with a messiah complex.  I now realize that I am not a messiah, far from it.

When I reached my peace with God a few years ago, I heard him tell me, "James Meredith, you talk too much."

To tell you the truth, over the last ten to fifteen years I've been trying to figure out why in the world God let me stay alive this long.  Now I know why.  I'm going to use all my energy to do what I think God sent me here to do..

He wants me to be a messenger.

The message he wants me to deliver is that you and I have a divine responsibility to transform American to make it a better place for our children and our grandchildren, through the power of our love.

It is not an option for us to love our fellow Americans in this way.  It is not a choice, it is not an option, and it is not a gift.

It is our absolute, ironclad moral responsibility.  It is our destiny.  It is the mission established for us by God, Abraham, Christ, Buddha, Mohammed, and all the gods and prophets of the ages.

This is the reason you and I were born (p.244).

 

Tomorrow, I will continue this theme, linking the topic of education and Meredith's Divine Mission.