 Sunday, March 18, 2007 Written by Minister Thomas L. Bowen |
|
And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, "Which is the first commandment of all?" And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord; And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love they neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. Mark 12:28-31 (KJV)
A few weeks ago, I received a surprise phone call from
the Office of Council Member Jim Graham, stating that
Council Member Graham needed Shiloh's help and asking if
I could attend a meeting to discuss the sale of alcohol
to underage minors in the District of Columbia. The staff
member shared with me that our recent opposition to the
granting of liquor licenses to restaurants in Shaw,
located within 400 feet of a school, had sent a message
that Shiloh is not afraid of standing up to business
owners. I agreed to attend and immediately called
Reverend Jackie Thompson to see if she could attend the
meeting also. I gave her the little information that I
had, and she agreed to clear her schedule so that she
could attend.
We were both surprised when we walked into the conference
room where the meeting was to be held and were handed a
copy of the agenda. What we thought was an informal
meeting on the subject of alcohol and youth turned out to
be a Working Group Meeting to draft legislation that
would be sponsored by Mr. Graham and introduced before
Council as a revised Youth Protection Bill that would
outline restrictions to the presence of minors in
establishments that serve alcohol. (I regret that I
cannot share the particulars of the legislation because
it is to be embargoed until discussions are completed and
the bill is actually presented.)
As representatives of Shiloh and the Shiloh Family Life
Center, Jackie and I were promptly given prominent seats
around the table. Other individuals around the table in
addition to Mr. Graham and his staff members included the
Assistant Police Chief, the Director of the Alcoholic
Beverage Regulation Administration, member of the ABC
Board, General Counsel for the ABC Board, an official
with the restaurant association and owners of various
nightclubs (LOVE, 9:30 Club and the Black Cat), along
with their legal representation.
It became obvious to me during the meeting that those
charged with enforcing current laws that prohibited the
sale of alcohol to minors were not doing their job
adequately or sufficiently, that indeed they did not have
the resources to do so. I raised the question during the
meeting, "If it is impossible to monitor
establishments that currently have licenses to serve
alcohol, why does the Board continue to grant licenses?
Should we now be talking about a moratorium?" I have
yet to receive a response, but I did not expect one. I
merely wanted to put them on notice.
After ninety minutes of intense discussion about youth,
curfews, compliance and enforcement, the conversation
seemed to hit a brick wall as we began to argue about the
particularities and preciseness of appropriate language.
With all the legal minds and legislative experts around
the table, it was our own Reverend Jacqueline Thompson
who captured the attention of all present by introducing
acceptable language that was agreeable to all. Persons
around the room thankful for her presence began
whispering, "Who is this woman?"
A reporter for the Washington Post who had been present
at the meeting asked Jackie and me why Shiloh was present
at the meeting, as if we were granted some special favor.
We told him because we had been invited and because the
church is called to be a moral conscience in our society.
Allow me to now advance the explanation. The church has
to speak up for the most vulnerable member of our
society, to raise our collective voice for those who do
not have the resources to speak for themselves. We cannot
be merely concerned about our own comfortable existence,
we have to do as Jesus taught - love our neighbors as
ourselves. We do this in season and out of season,
whether it is the popular thing to do or not. We do it
because it is the right thing to do.
We did not go into the meeting with the naÔve notion
that Mr. Graham would now become our partner in the fight
to keep the Shaw community from becoming saturated with
alcohol serving establishments easily accessible to
minors. Marian Wright Edelman had taught me some time
ago, "There are no friends in politics." What
we do know is that there are those who now know, thanks
to the hard work of several Shiloh members, publicly and
privately, that Shiloh cares about its neighbors.
Readings for March 25,
2007: Isaiah
43:16-21; Psalm 126; Philippians 3:4b-14; John 12:1-8
***
OUR PURPOSE
Building the Village by Caring
Concept: Our pastor, the Reverend Wallace Charles Smith, envisions a holistic Ministry of Building by Caring, which includes a 3-tier approach - Care for Ourselves (spiritually), Care for Our Relations (family, friends and members), and Care for Our Community (outreach). In building our capacity to care we will also create an atmosphere that will increase our church's membership, winning more souls to Christ; they will know we are Christians by our love;.
