Today we mark the 52^ndyear of the passing of one our nation’s greatest civil rights heroes.  Dr. Martin Luther King was gunned down on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.  Dr. King was in Memphis for the Poor People’s Campaign.  He was there to help the poorest of the poor and the lowest of the low. He was there for the sanitation strike. He was there for the people who worked with garbage, were treated like garbage and felt like garbage. Hope was what he was all about.  Dr. King was on the balcony that fateful night because he was speaking with a jazz saxophone player by the name of Ben Branch who was standing in the parking lot below.  Branch was going to play music at an event that Dr. King was going to attend that night and Dr. King said, “Ben, make sure you play ‘Take My Hand, Precious Lord’ in the meeting tonight.  Play it real pretty.”  Right then at that moment…at 6:01pm…a shot rang out and Dr. King was dead.  Heartbreak… Our nation lost one of its greatest that night, but his message never died.  In this season here at Parkview, may we never give up hope.  May we lean into this Holy Week not losing sight that our precious Lord is holding our hand.  In this season of uncertainty may we trust that God will keep us strong and lead us through the storms and through the night and into the light.

Precious Lord, take my hand
Lead me on, let me stand
I am tired, I am weak, I am worn
Through the storm, through the night
Lead me on through the light
Take my hand, precious Lord
And lead me home

By: Thomas A. Dorsey

Here is Ben Branch playing Precious Lord.  This is the music that Dr. King would have heard that night on April 4, 1968 had he lived.