Word on the Street

I was on vacation last week in Washington D.C. It is always amazing to see the richness of our nation's heritage depicted in the buildings, museums, monuments and institutions. When I go there and experience these things I realize that I am not simply encountering the past. I am also encountering a challenge as to what kind of citizen I will be in the future.

One evening we went to the area of the Tidal Basin just before sunset. A walk around the south and west side of the Tidal Basin will now take you to the Thomas Jefferson, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Martin Luther King, Jr. memorials. In the Jefferson Memorial stands the large statue of Jefferson along with four panels of inscription quoting the famous Founding Father from Virginia. On the fourth panel are the words:

"I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions, but laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."

As I read these words I thought about our country and our church. No one would ever have accused Thomas Jefferson of "Good Ol' Days" syndrome. Jesus said it this way: "No one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. (Luke 5: 37-38).

With you on Grace Avenue,

Billy Echols-Richter

Pastor