By The Reverend Dr. Susan Newman

“God of our weary years, God of our silent tears…”

These words from the Negro National Anthem, Lift Every Voice and Sing—familiar to all black people, and many of other races—catapulted Reverend Dr. Joseph Lowery to the front-pages of newspapers, and dead-center in political chit-chat among television’s political pundits.

It was just a simple prayer—a benediction; a blessing that began like so many others in any African-American church on any given Sunday. But this was not any given Sunday, and we were not listening to this prayer from the pulpit of a church. This was The Benediction at the 2009 Inaugural Ceremony of the 44th President of the United States, and the first African-American President, Mr. Barack Obama.

After a full day of standing in 15 degree weather, waiting for the ceremony to begin, watching all the who’s who arrive and be seated, we finally witnessed a grand celebration. We watched as Aretha Franklin strode to the podium wearing a magnificent “Sunday-go-to-meeting” hat with a crystal studded bow, singing My Country ‘Tis of Thee.

We watched a performance of John Williams’s composition, Air and Simple Gifts, performed by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Itzhak Perlman, pianist Gabriela Montero and clarinetist Anthony McGill. We watched Vice President-elect Joe Biden take his oath. We watched Chief Justice John Roberts flub a bit while administering the oath of office to President-elect Obama. We watched President Obama assume the office of President, followed by a 21-gun salute, and the playing of “Hail to the Chief.”

Obama delivered his inaugural address to the crowds and we thought all the excitement of the ceremony was over. But then a silver-haired man from the south approached the podium to pray the benediction and this “Prince of the Pulpit,” moved the hearts of millions.

Many discovered The Reverend Dr. Joseph E. Lowery that historic January 20, 2009, but he has been walking to podiums and microphones, and standing in pulpits and on platforms for over sixty years declaring what “Thus saith the Lord.” This 87 year-old preacher, born and raised in Alabama, has been moving the hearts and challenging the minds of men and women long before President Obama’s Inauguration. It was because of his life’s calling to lift up suffering humanity and speak out for those who have no voice, and march for those who have no just ground to stand on, that Dr. Lowery was honored by President Barack Obama with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian award, on August 12, 2009.

Rudyard Kipling’s classic poem “If,” issues a challenge: If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same.” Joe Lowery has more than proven that he can meet Kipling’s challenge. He has been a leader in the U.S. civil rights movement since the early 1950s. Being a civil rights leader was not what he chose to do, it chose him. It was in Mobile, Alabama, while serving as pastor of the Warren Street United Methodist Church, that he headed the Alabama Civic Affairs Association, the organization which led the Movement to desegregate buses and public accommodations after Rosa Park’s arrest in 1955.

Later, at the request of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Lowery led the Selma to Montgomery March in 1965. In 1957, Lowery had co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a leading civil rights organization, with Dr. Martin Luther King, Bayard Rustin, Ralph Abernathy, and others. It was because of his faithfulness, his courage, and his tenacity to stare down evil on behalf of the last, the lost, and the least in our society, that Dr. King chose Lowery to chair the delegation delivering the demands of the Selma-to-Montgomery March to Alabama Governor George Wallace.

Lowery led SCLC from 1977 to 1997. When he stepped down, The Washington Post reporetd that he “guided the SCLC on a new course that embraced more mainstream social and economic policies, and restored its financial stability. ‘There was nothing magic about what I did. We just fought a good fight,’ said Lowery, who also spent 45 years as a clergyman in Atlanta.”

Former Washington, DC Congressman Walter Fauntroy has known Lowery for more than 50 years. Fauntroy said, “His determination to speak truth to power, and to tell the truth in love, helped people face reality with courage. My most refreshing memories of Lowery are jokes he told in the midst of periods of high tension that would relieve the tension and give us the foresight to move forward with courage. For instance, I launched the Free South Africa Movement with my arrest in 1964 at the South African Embassy, and Joe Lowery was the first to come to Washington, DC to get arrested and continue that movement. He was one of many who placed his reputation and courage on the line to contribute to a movement that ultimately made a prisoner, Nelson Mandela, the President of South Africa.”

“If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
but make allowance for their doubting too…”

In the tradition of gospel preachers and biblical prophets, Lowery has always spoken truth to power. His words have not always been spoken in venues deemed appropriate by some, but always necessary to Lowery. In 2006, he received a standing ovation from some, and criticism from others, for his remarks at Coretta Scott King’s funeral. Before four U. S. Presidents, including George W. Bush, who was in office at the time, Rev. Lowery said, “She extended Martin’s message against poverty, racism and war. She deplored the terror inflicted by our smart bombs on missions way afar. We know now there were no weapons of mass destruction over there. But Coretta knew, and we know there are weapons of misdirection here. Millions without health insurance; poverty abounds. For war billions more, but no more for the poor!” In response to criticism about his remarks from political conservatives, Rev. Lowery said, “I’m comfortable that I did the right thing.”

Throughout his ministry, Lowery has received several honors. The NAACP gave him an award at its 1997 convention as “Dean of the Civil Rights Movement,” and Lifetime Achievement Award. He has also received the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center Peace Award and the National Urban League’s Whitney M. Young, Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004. Ebony Magazine has named him one of the 15 greatest black preachers, describing him as, “the consummate voice of biblical social relevancy, a focused voice, speaking truth to power.”  Despite all his public achievements, he is a humble man who never forgets the shoulders he has stood on to gain his present position.

After receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Lowery returned to Atlanta to cheering fans at a reception held at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, where many had  gathered to congratulate this celebrated, southern treasure of civil rights. At the end of all the accolades, Rev. Lowery, this prince of the pulpit, stood at the podium and humbly thanked everyone for their praise, but then gave honor to all the known and unknown people without whom he could never have reached this point in his life, especially his wife, Evelyn. “I wish it were big so I could write the names of all the people who are responsible for my being here. So I accepted the medal on their behalf, many whose names are recognizable and others whose names are not recognizable, but it was their sacrifice, their devotion, their stewardship, their faithfulness that enabled those of us who got the recognition, and made it possible for us to be here. I would like to write their names on the back of the medal. I am especially proud that everyone who has congratulated me has included my wife. She has been a stalwart, a faithful roommate, she has been the partner and colleague and inspiration to me. She has made the lumber of my life a tabernacle, instead of a tavern.”

January 2007 in Atlanta, Georgia, at a church-sponsored Black Candidates Forum, Lowery spoke to the crowd about supporting Senator Barack Obama for President of the United States. He said, “God is in the proposition. He’s an unlikely candidate. Kenyan father. White Kansas mother. He’s an unlikely fellow. But God does that. This is an unlikely moment. But that’s when you have to decide if you want to be a part of history. Get on the right side of history.”

Pastor Joe Lowery has been on the right side of history for 87 years, and has not sat down yet.

The Reverend Dr. Susan Newman has had a 33-year career as a pastor, a community advocate, a teacher, a chaplain, and author. She is the President of Sincerely Susan Ministries, and is an Adjunct Minister of Peoples Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington, DC.  Web site: www.sincerelysusan.com