Standing Before the Stone

On Easter Sunday, 1939, Marian Anderson stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and opened her mouth to sing. Seventy-five thousand people stretched across the National Mall. Millions more listened on the radio. She had not chosen this stage. The Daughters of the American Revolution had barred her from Constitution Hall because of the color of her skin. Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the organization in protest, and the Department of the Interior offered the Memorial instead.

Anderson could have retreated. She could have sung quietly somewhere safe, somewhere smaller, somewhere the hatred could not reach her. Instead, she walked to the microphones in her fur coat on that cold April morning and sang My Country, 'Tis of Thee with a voice that shook the marble beneath Abraham Lincoln's carved gaze.

She later said she was so nervous she could not feel her legs. But she sang anyway.

Courage in scripture rarely looks like the absence of fear. When the Almighty told Joshua to be strong and courageous, it was precisely because the Jordan River still needed crossing and the walled cities still needed facing. God never promised Joshua he would stop trembling. He promised He would be there when he did.

Some of you are standing on steps you did not choose, facing audiences you did not invite, carrying weight that was never yours to bear. Sing anyway. Open your mouth and let the truth come out. The God who stood with Marian Anderson on those cold stone steps stands with you on yours.