part of the Sermon -- "Compassion Vision Perseverance: Lessons from Moses" (Tuesday Jan. 22, 2013 at National Cathedral's Prayer Service for Inauguration of Pres. Obama and V-P Biden) :
During Dr. Martin Luther King weekend a few years ago I heard on NPR an interview with Rev. Billy Kyles, who was with Dr. King on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel when he died. The interviewer asked Kyles what he’d be preaching that weekend, and Reverend Kyles told a story you’ve undoubtedly heard before, but one that bears repeating. He said, “I’ll be telling the old story told about Robert Louis Stevenson.” Stevenson, the 19th century author, once told how as a boy he’d been sitting in the window, nose pressed against the glass in rapt attention as the lamplighter came to light the gas street lamps. Climbing up and down the ladder in the darkness – it was a fascinating sight to a little boy. His father walked in the room, and seeing how intently his son was looking out the window asked, “Son, what are you looking at?” To which the young Stevenson replied, “Father, I’m watching the man out there knock holes in the darkness.”
There’s a lot of darkness in the world. Lead us to be a compassionate people, concerned for the marginalized. Help us rediscover a vision for America that is so compelling that it unites us and calls us to realize the real potential of America to be that “shining city upon a hill.” And, when you feel your lowest, don’t give up. Lead us Mr. President, to knock holes in the darkness!
http://www.nationalcathedral.org/worship/sermonTexts/ah20130122.shtml
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