The Lexington advertiser. [volume] (Lexington, Miss.) 1904-1985, 1963-12-19

We who are privileged to
! live in Mississippi in 1868
have been singularly blessed
by God. Our mission is quite
clear. We must dispel the pail
of half truths, manipulated
statistics, q pseu q o-antfo-
lpology, and the restrictions OF
a closed society with the light
and truth and life and free
dom which are ours in Christ.
Perhaps this sounds facetious
to say we are blessed to
have this task. But we are
blessed. There is no need to
Ewonder what Christ would
have US do at this hour; His
will is manifest.
! The kingdom We would
build is not a kingdom pat
termed after New York or
Ghana or Berlin. Nor is it a
kingdom that looks back with
nostalgia to the ante-bellum
days The kingdom We must
build is the Kingdom Of God.
Nothing must be allowed to
interfere with this work.
At the moment the light
of Christ, except for a few
stray glimmers, is firmly hid
den beneath the oppressive
basket of prejudice and fear.
There are those who are
working heroically in our
midst for a clearer passage OF
Christ's light These valiant
souls have been allowed to
carry our burden alone too
long.
Christians are confused. We
are thinking and acting less
as children of light and more
like the children OF this
world, We have forgotten
that we have here no lasting
city, and so our official pro-
nouncenents and our editorial
writer's and our politicians
and at times even our minis
tiers, with eestatic fervor. bear
witness not to the kingdom
Of God and his justice, but
rather to the realm of the
Magnolia and its way of life.
Flower worship is no better
than star worship.
It is not the devil whom
we fear. 1t is not the world
and the flesh that we fear.
It is not sin that we are urged
to avoid. We are taken up
with other things. We have
clearly drawn the line. we
have draped the spot with
the flags of the Confederacy
and Mississippi, and with the
tune OF Dixie ringing III our
ears we face every problem,
every challenge, every threat,
not as Christians, not as hu-
man beings, not as citizens OF
the world. not as citizens OF
d nation, but as citizens Of
state. ANYTHING in any way
alien to, things exactly as they
new are is avoided as the
mortal sin Of this new pagan
reliRipn.
We are almost unique in
this. In the mast several
months I have had occasion
to attend meetings with re-
representatives. from all oyer
the United States This fierce
sectionalism is not present
elsewhere. While its cause
may be partly due to our
long term, INDIGENOUS popu-
lation. we should have de-
velnped a collective maturity
by now.
There are those who actual
" do look to the issues in
volved. and not simply to the
locality The NEW YORK
TIMES concern for the al
LACED closed society OF Mis-
sissippi is the same phanon7e-
non % the BAPTIST RE-
CORDS concern for freedom
of religion in South Vietnam.
In. recent months / have
talked with Americans from
all over the United States I
see newspapers everv waek
from al over the United
States There is not an arAa
Of this COUNTRY. Mississirni
excluded. which is not ac''te-
IN aware that # is suffering
from racial problems and 9TH
or j1ls How ronnv times have
tre hioh priests Of orr rec-
- occ,,rnJ 80 %hof