Every year over the Martin Luther King weekend, the Youth of St. Stephen bring friends to a Lock Out—a time when the youth and sponsors travel to various entertainment venues for a night out of fun and fellowship. We return to church around 3 or 4 a.m. to play games, chat, sleep or jump on inflatable contraptions until we drop dead of sleep at 7 a.m.—when parents pick up their loved ones sling them into bed.
This year, a large group of 38 appeared; first, we ventured to Cityview Bowling, where we all struggled to make it past a score of 100. Exceptions were Darryl Harris, sponsor: 112; Nathan, friend of Jeep’s: 134; John Bollman, youth: 108; Beth Fultz, 108! Paltry scores, nonetheless.
At the start of the Lock Out, everyone was made aware that only two movies were showing at Parks Mall AMC at the time that could be squeezed in between bowling and broomball on ice, also at the Mall. Those two movies were “Taken 3” and “Selma”. “Taken 3”, according to IMBD.com is this story: “Ex-government operative Bryan Mills is accused of a ruthless murder he never committed or witnessed. As he is tracked and pursued, Mills brings out his particular set of skills to find the true killer and clear his name.” “Selma”, according to the IMBD.com is an historical drama; “A chronicle of Martin Luther King‘s campaign to secure equal voting rights via an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1965.” Which garnered the interest of most of the teenagers? “Taken 3” by landslide vote. Unfortunately, by the time we reached the theater, counted 3 times to make sure that we had the tickets numbers correct, 30—8 (“Taken 3” – “Selma”), the computers locked us out of “Taken 3”. 15 minutes late. Sorry, Kids, All tickets to “Selma”!
The chronicle of Martin Luther King, recently snubbed in the most part by the Academy Awards nominations, and criticized by some about the portrayal of President Johnson‘s seeming opposition to MLK’s voting rights stance, was simply amazing. The youth of St. Stephen had stepped into a messy, muddy, lesson in the history of race relations, and they were captive in that theater. The acting was superb. The story gripping, sad, violent, and truthful. The movie music was a melodious and momentous announcement of the actions and consequences of racism against a minority people who claim to have rights that are flagrantly ignored.
As the movie swelled to a glorious ending, the time was past to go to our next activity. I alerted the ice skating rink that we’d be there as soon as the credits started rolling. When the movie let out, our group lazily gathered in the theater common areas as I called out several times that we needed to head on over to the rink to get started on our icy broomball game. Suddenly, a lovely African American woman and her husband asked me, “Are you a school group?” “No”, I answered, “We’re a church group on a Lock Out.” She then sweetly stated, “Thank you for coming! It was a wonderful movie and you all came to it this late at night!” She smiled and went on to record that many school groups were receiving free tickets to see the movie and she was glad that we made a point to come. I didn’t alert her to ways of our decision making that night. I didn’t alert her that our kids usually aren’t prejudiced about race or gender or religion. But I did thank her for her comments on our youth group. She was as glorious as the movie soundtrack— a melodious announcement of the fight against racism.
Intolerance of any kind is violent, hurtful, deadly, and the consequences are felt for generations. I thank God for the capricious nature of our evening that led to the encounter with history and the meeting of a sweet family at the theater. May the lessons of the evening stay well beyond the memory of the weekend. May we spread tolerance and love for many generations to come…starting right between bowling and the ice rink; or school and basketball practice; or work and going out to eat; or…