Posted by Roberta Grimes • July 04, 2020 • 12 Comments
Oh beautiful, for heroes proved in liberating strife, Who more than self their country loved, and mercy more than life! America! America! May God thy gold refine, ‘Till all success be nobleness and every gain divine. – Katharine Lee Bates (1859-1929) from “America the Beautiful” (1895) The purpose of human life is spiritual growth, and... Read More
Posted by Roberta Grimes • June 27, 2020 • 14 Comments
In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our Republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men – black... Read More
Posted by Roberta Grimes • June 20, 2020 • 57 Comments
Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen, Nobody knows but Jesus. Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen, Glory hallelujah! – From a pre-1865 Negro spiritual, author unknown Every human being of every shade is a member of a single race. Modern Europeans are in fact east Africans. This scientific certainty has been achieved only very recently,... Read More
Posted by Roberta Grimes • June 13, 2020 • 42 Comments
The quality of mercy is not strained; It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes. – William Shakespeare (1564-1616) from The Merchant of Venice (1605) As a teenager I memorized the entire “quality of mercy” speech from... Read More
Posted by Roberta Grimes • June 06, 2020 • 103 Comments
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found; Was blind, but now I see. – Clergyman John Newton (1725–1807), from Amazing Grace (1772) You were supremely brave to plan and actually enter yet another earth-lifetime. Give yourself a lot of credit for... Read More
Posted by Roberta Grimes • May 30, 2020 • 40 Comments
The road is long, with many a winding turn That leads us to who knows where, who knows when. But I’m strong, strong enough to carry him. He ain’t heavy. He’s my brother. – Bobby Scott (1937-1990) & Bob Russell (1914-1970), from “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” (1969) If people were nothing more than... Read More
Posted by Roberta Grimes • May 23, 2020 • 76 Comments
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored. He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword. His truth is marching on! – Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910), from “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” (1862)... Read More
Posted by Roberta Grimes • May 16, 2020 • 66 Comments
Oh Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made; I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed. – Carl Boberg (1859-1940), From “How Great Thou Art” (1885) The Gospel teachings of Jesus are the simplest and most effective way... Read More
Posted by Roberta Grimes • May 09, 2020 • 46 Comments
Jesus loves me! This I know, For the Bible tells me so; Little ones to Him belong; They are weak, but He is strong. – William B. Bradbury (1816-1868), from “Jesus Loves Me” (1862) The biggest handicap all of us face in seeking to know the genuine God is the fact that the historical Jesus... Read More
Posted by Roberta Grimes • May 02, 2020 • 65 Comments
I come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the roses, And the voice I hear falling on my ear, The Son of God discloses… – C. Austin Miles (1868–1946), from “In the Garden” (1913) The more we learn about reality, the more we realize it is one seamless whole. There is... Read More
