Mark Sorensen Racial tension was real and felt by many in the country. Only a year prior, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had been assassinated, and the current headlines filling the newspapers and television sets a year later were that of African Americans who were violently being removed from “white” swimming pools.
Enter onto the scene Fred Rogers.
It was episode #1,065 of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and Fred was determined that the minds and hearts of our nation’s children needed a different story.
So, he offered them one.
In the iconic scene, Fred is sitting in a kiddie pool and cooling off his feet on a hot (studio) summer day. Enter a friend of Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood named Officer Clemmons, a black police officer. Officer Clemmons comes in and sees Fred cooling off his feet and Fred extends an invitation to get in the pool with him so he can cool off his feet as well. To the delight (and quite possibly shock) of those watching that moment, they saw Fred and Officer Clemmons sitting in a kiddie pool together. And when their time was done? Fred, not content to let Officer Clemmons get out of that pool with wet feet, takes a towel and dries off the feet of his black friend on national television. Looking and smiling directly into the camera, no less.
I love you, Fred Rogers.
It’s beautiful that such a sweet and simple gesture can have such a powerful and subversive message in that day: Love in action means getting in the kiddie pool with all of our neighbors and washing and drying their feet.
Reminds me of a similar story found in the Gospels. After washing the feet of His disciples, Jesus gives his friends the following instruction:
“So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.” – John 13:14 (NRSV)
I’m sure I don’t have to remind you that there’s a lot of hurt, grief, and even anger in our world today. It seems that tensions are higher than they ever have been before. Yet, I believe that we can all learn from one another and even grow amidst this difficult page in the story of our nation’s struggle.
What’s needed is for each of us to sit alongside one another in the kiddie pool of all the various emotions being experienced and do the following: listen, lament, and learn.
And then, let’s not stop there. Let’s wash one another’s feet. Why? Because within the act of washing one another’s feet we learn humility and it’s within this act of servanthood that we show Christ’s love on display. Remember, it’s this love that led Jesus to say the following:
“By this everyone will know you’re my disciples.” – John 13:35 (NRSV)
There’s an important conversation we’re having at 4:00 p.m. today (Thursday) via webinar. Register to join us. An outdoor Prayer Gathering for Justice and for Peace will follow the webinar at 7:00 p.m. at The Woodlands UMC Fairway. I will be there, and I hope you can come and join us as we gather to pray for justice and peace in our country.
Bless you, friends. Humbled to serve alongside you all.
