Pastor Jenny read aloud the children’s picture book “Someday is Now,” written by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich and Illustrated by Jade Johnson, at Children’s Time, on Sunday, August 30, 2020,
“Someday is Now,” a book on social justice in America, is about Clara Luper, a ‘superhero’ of the Civil Rights movement. It tells how Clara and her students led sit-ins in 1958, at the Katz lunch counters in Oklahoma City, to end racial segregation. The unjust laws at the time did not allow African Americans to eat at lunch counters inside the drugstore. They were forced to take their food outside. And so Clara and these children changed the laws!
Clara challenges young people to do what is right and stand up against something they know is wrong, even at a high cost, but without resorting to violence.
Pastor Jenny states, “Jesus taught us we are to follow him into hard places in this life and that we are to overcome evil with good all the time. In this story, we see real people who overcame evil with good. But it was hard!”
The lesson to be learned from this story is that young people must be prepared to make small sacrifices for justice and make changes in the world. Like speaking out and standing strong.
So, what now?
Says Pastor Jenny: “Carry this story with you into today, into the rest of the week, into the rest of our lives as you follow Jesus as well.”
To follow the worship service and listen to Pastor Jenny read, click here.
Written by Isabella Dougan
On June 9 Princeton UMC closed its five-day Prayer Vigil to End Racism with a service on the church lawn, archived on our Facebook page.