Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 7, 1995 TAG: 9505100024
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: D-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DENNIS HERMAN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The explosion of April 19 in Oklahoma City stunned us and brought to us a shared national grief. We observed the day of mourning in silent prayers on Sunday morning. Then on April 22, we watched as historic First Baptist Church of Roanoke in the Gainsboro section went up in flames.
The largely African-American congregation had long since occupied a new structure a block away, yet the Gainsboro edifice had become the home of a dream - an arts place where black and white children could come to enjoy the theater and music. Many persons, including the late John Will Creasy, had invested years and tears into the refurbishing of the building and fostering the dream of providing children with access to the theater, and utilizing that inroad to promote racial harmony and understanding.
My fondest memories of John Will were at a Saturday morning program to which I took my kids. His face beamed each time he talked of his dream. I had hoped there would be others to carry that dream along. Indeed, there were. Now the fire seems to have destroyed that dream.
But wait! Dreams cannot be destroyed by fire or bombs! John Will Creasy's dream will not be destroyed by the incineration of a building. Neither will the American dream be destroyed by a bomb in Oklahoma! You see, dreams are of the soul and mind. Be those dreams the lofty ideals upon which a nation is born, the noble aspirations of community visionaries, or the desire of a church to be used by God in a wonderful and mighty way, they cannot be destroyed by any means that man or nature can devise.
We Christians must believe, if we believe anything, that the force of good is greater than evil, that the Spirit of God is more magnanimous than the most threatening demon, and that the mind of God is more vast than the expanse of our universe.
Noble dreams, worthy endeavors, and Christian deeds are not thwarted by the destructive fires of nature or mankind. To the contrary, that which is good, noble and wholesome will only shine more resolutely in contrast to the darkest evil that attempts to enshroud it.
The tragedy of Oklahoma City becomes a monument to the heroic and noble spirit of the people of this land. The destruction of a building in Roanoke only destroys a building, not a noble dream. The cross of Christ, a hideous place of execution, becomes a symbol of living faith!
Dennis Herman is pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Roanoke.
by CNB