Day Four:
Crossing the Bridge of Reconciliation
Theme for Thursday — Healing

Today, the Justice Journey team crossed a bridge together. Although it was a physical bridge – the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama – the crossing took on a spiritual meaning in each heart. Linked arm-in-arm and lined up two-by-two, they walked across the bridge – unified in purpose. Joined together, they took steps to move the two churches, one black and one white, closer to racial reconciliation.

Excitement filled the air as Bill and Lynne Hybels and James and Jamell Meeks, joined in.

As Bill Hybels, Senior Pastor at Willow Creek says, “My observation is how many bridges have been crossed relationally with the Justice Journey team – that’s the bridge that is most important today.”

As James Meeks the Senior Pastor at Salem Baptist says, “What is most meaningful to me today is the joy among our Justice Journey travelers. I didn’t expect the group to bond and gel this soon.”

Meeks and Hybels arrived in the afternoon to join the team for a service at Brown Chapel. The Chapel played a critical role in the Voting Rights movement and was the starting point for many of the Civil Rights marches in Alabama—from Selma to Montgomery. In 1965, African Americans attempted three marches from Selma to Montgomery. On the second march, referred to as Bloody Sunday, marchers were brutalized as they attempted to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

At the chapel, the Justice Journey team was privileged to talk with Joanne and Nadene, residents of Selma, who were at the bridge on Bloody Sunday. They remembered the violence inflicted by the policemen. As nonviolent marchers, when they’d walked as far as they could, the entire group stopped and said a prayer. The police advanced from the other side of the bridge. Then, the entire group knelt and prayed.

“Policeman came from the sides and front,” says Joanne. “They came with tear gas, dogs, clubs and horses. You could hear people screaming and bones breaking. Documentaries don’t show that the violence didn’t stop there—on the bridge; it went on all night. We couldn’t get back to our homes.”

The Justice Journey sat silently in Brown Chapel as the ladies shared their stories. Tears flowed freely. “When Joanne shared her experience – that was troubling and it saddened me,” says Bill Hybels. “I didn’t realize the extent of what had happened back then. It was a sobering moment.”

After a time of worship at Brown Chapel, the Justice Journey team walked across the bridge – heads held high and arms interlocked, marching in respect and awe of the bravery, courage, perseverance and unshakable faith of those who tried to cross it forty years ago.

“As we were about to cross and looked up at the name of the bridge, many of us felt a sense of fear. It was almost as if we were transported back to March of 1965,”says Denise Rogers from Salem Baptist.

On the other side of the bridge, the team gathered for a time of communion. All fifty-seven encircled the leaders and prayed for them—for protection, wisdom, favor and blessings. Simultaneously, their voices were lifted to a merciful and loving God.

Kristin Aikman from Willow Creek says, “What crossing the bridge meant to me is that I am committed to doing something. It was like crossing over from unawareness to awareness.”

Sandra McKinley from Salem Baptist says, “This Bridge is where people walked when I was a little girl. They marched across the bridge for me, even though I didn’t know it was for me. Once I got across the bridge, I spent time thanking God for what they did for me.”

Crossing the bridge, Sandra McKinley’s beautiful voice led the entire group in a spiritual, “Ain’t Nobody Going to Turn Me Around, Turn Me Around, Turn Me Around, Ain’t Nobody Going Turn Me Around…I’m Going to Keep on Walking, Keep on Talking, Walking Up the Freedom Way.” Many sang these words, not only to honor the marchers, but today they meant the words for themselves. They’ve experienced God’s healing and reconciling power this week.

Ain’t nobody going to turn Willow Creek and Salem Baptist around.

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