Unity, self-reflection urged at MLK Day service

MEDINA — Religious leaders from churches throughout Medina and one from Youngstown joined together Monday night at Cornerstone Chapel to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It was a livestreamed service full of prayer, songs and calls for unity within not only the church, but throughout the nation. "May (this service) inspire you to join together, just like your pastors have, to plot some harmony, to scheme some peace, to risk some unity and to have the strength to love," the Rev. Luke Lindon of the Medina United Church of Christ, Congregational, said in his opening remarks. "We need it now more than ever." After Lindon, members of Second Baptist Church came together and sang a rendition of "How Great is Our God," followed by several scripture readings from Pastor David Wallover of Harvest Presbyterian in Medina, which were Deuteronomy 16:19-20, 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 and Matthew 11:25-30. Medina Mayor Dennis Hanwell, a member of the Medina United Methodist Church, followed with a prayer and gave thanks for the gathering of all religious leaders Monday night and also specifically for Second Baptist's Rev. Arthur Ruffin. Hanwell, who is closely involved with pastors in the city and spoke at several racial justice rallies in Medina over the summer, called Ruffin "(Medina's) own Martin Luther (King Jr.)." "We're thankful to be here tonight, both present and virtually, to honor and recognize the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.," Hanwell said. "We're proud of a number of the accomplishments of our country, Lord, fulfilling much of what Dr. King aspired us to but we've also taken some steps back, Lord. This year, in particular, we've seen an unusual amount of corruption, or police brutality of peaceful protestors breaking windows and stealing from their own neighbors. "Lord, we ask that you touch each and every one of us. We're so thankful, Lord, for Pastor Ruffin and the pastoral group here in Medina. We're so thankful that you sent (Ruffin) here to us and for his leadership that I am proud to be apart of (and) I know the pastors are proud to be apart of." Following Hanwell's prayer, members of St. Matthews Evangelical Lutheran Chuch in Medina sang "Amazing Grace" before Mark Giaimo, lead pastor at Cornerstone Chapel, introduced Pastor Cornell Jordan of Metro Assembly in Youngstown to give a homily he titled "Our Samaria." "I am tremendously honored to be able to share any thoughts centering around such an influential individual," Jordan said. "All across America and, dare I say, all across the world, there are people remembering the impact of this man." Jordan called out the fact that "we are living in troubled times" and that the personal Samaria that everyone is facing surrounds not wanting to have conversations about "what has kept us divided as a church and as a nation." He highlighted this by reading John 4:4-6, which is the beginning of the "Good Samaritan" story, in which Jesus visits Samaria which, Jordan compared to "the wrong side of the tracks," and a place that Jews would avoid, similar, he said, to how these conversations are being avoided. "The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not a gospel of avoidance," Jordan said. "It's the gospel of humble, self-sacrificial and persistent love. That's the gospel that we base our lives on." To drive this point home, he invoked two of King's most famous quotes, remembering how he said he "decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear." He added another quote that says that "love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend." Jordan said similar to how Jesus went through Samaria, the church and the nation must not avoid their own "Samaria" and humble themselves to be able to have an open dialogue and conversation. He urged the audience and everyone watching to do four things, as well: "Examine your own heart and motives, have honest and edifying conversations, trust the Holy Spirit to enable change and don't fuel the wrong fire." "If we're ever going to experience MLK's dream," Jordan said, "we're going to have to go through our Samaria." Following that, the Praise Team sang "My Life is in Your Hands," before Hanwell once again took the stage to thank those that came out, those that watched and those that made the night possible. Just prior to the benediction from Pastor Pete Ryder of Medina Church of the Nazarene, Ruffin said it not out of the question that God could use the city of Medina to show the world what unity and justice look like and urged those in the community to help make that happen. "My prayer is that we as a city, as pastors and leaders, can come together and be unified," Ruffin said. "What does unity look like? It's not because we get together on Martin Luther King Day, it's not because we get together on a couple of days in Black History Month, that means we got together in January and February and that's it. "Unity looks like we get together when nobody else expects us together as one big city. All of us can get together because we praise the same God. This is not the end. Amen." Contact reporter Jack Kopanski at (330) 721-4063 or jkopanski@medina-gazette.com.