The following remarks were delivered by Pastor Devlin Scott of NewCity Church during this morning’s 52nd Annual Martin Luther King Community Celebration:
Good Morning Neighbors.
Allow me to introduce myself.
But rather than tell you my credentials, my education level and experiences; rather than point out my adornments and use language that proves to some and attempts to convince myself that I belong here and should be standing on this stage — I want to tell you who I am.
Rather than speak of my affection for social justice, diversity and inclusion; rather than speak of how the struggle and fight for equity is in my blood, that my maternal grandma marched with Dr. King and became a beacon of hope in her small town of Shelby, MS – building schools, bringing fresh produce to her town by growing it in 100s of acres of community gardens and fighting for the development of roads and homes in this rural town of 600 people; or that I am paternally related to Coretta Scott King the wife of Dr King — I said its literally in my blood — instead I want to tell you who I am.
Rather than tell you about my experience growing up on Chicago’s south side with a high school drop out and drug dealer as a father and a church going physician assistant as a mother; rather than speak of when my family moved here, what brought us to this great city and how our experience has been so far; I resist the notion to even describe what I do, but instead simply tell you who I am.
My name is Devlin Scott.
I am black.
I am a husband
I am a father
I am Christian
I am a Pastor
I tell you who I am because I have come to learn that the only prerequisite to be your neighbor is that I am who I am.
I don’t have the luxury to be one of these things without the other. I can’t turn off being a Pastor just as much as I can’t turn off being a father. I shouldn’t stop being a Christian, just as much as I shouldn’t try to act as if I am as ashamed to be black.
This is me. And I am your neighbor.
To know your neighbor is to love your neighbor and to love your neighbor is to radically accept your neighbor. Because the bases of loving others is to love them as you love yourself. And a healthy you radically accepts you. You think you’re the best person around. You see yourself as doing your best and you value you enough to forgive you, trust you, fight for you. You and you are tight. Ya’ll go way back.
Acceptance means you make room for people to be who they are — you add a another chair at the table; you add another place setting; you move your stuff off the extra chair near you — you make room for people; as they are, whether you agree with them or not. You make room. Whether you have much in common or not, you make room.
Dr. King said it this way, “We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.” — so, let’s make room.
Make room by offering a radical invitation to all people; by showing radical hospitality to all people; by responding with a radical embrace of all people; by rendering a radical love for all people; and by standing with a radical boldness for all people.
Let’s make room.
Let’s make room for every single one of our kids to have the best education; whether typically developing or on an IEP; whether from Newton or bused from Boston.
Let’s make room.
Let’s make room for the senior citizens and the elderly to age in place; for teachers to have fair compensation and benefits, and for our communities to be as environmentally safe as possible.
Let’s make room.
Let’s make room for families to live here; whether that family is a single person or a family of six; whether they make six and seven figures or survive on minimum wage; whether they are liberal or conservative or somewhere in between; whether they born here, brought here or simply chose to live here.
Let’s make room.
Let’s make room for affordable housing. Sure, we should consider traffic patterns, overcrowded schools and neighborhood density, but may that never distract us from what is most important – our neighbors. So let’s make room. I don’t care if its “livable” or “right-size,” let’s just make room.
Let’s. Make. Room.
I am your neighbor. Who I am is who I am and I am your neighbor. Will you make room for me?
I’m reminded of Dr. Kings words, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’”
Could not we understand Dr. King’s work to be summed up in this — let’s make room for others?
Newton is a great city. I’m proud to live here. So I leave you with this;
Dr. King had a dream, now we have a mission — an obligation some would say. And Newton, what is our mission this year? Let’s make room for others. Let’s really “know” our neighbors.
Thank you.
Rev. Devlin Scott
Lead Pastor – NewCity Church
www.newcitychurch.cc
Amen.
I wish I could have been there to hear Pastor Scott’s remarks in person. Incredibly inspiring and of course especially relevant in Newton today. My understanding is that NewTV was there. I hope they release video footage of the event.
It was a wonderful event with a lot of inspiring and hopeful voices.
I love the quote: ” I don’t care if its “livable” or “right-size,” let’s just make room”.
“We are all in the same boat now” . . . let us treat each other as friends, not strangers, and form a more perfect union as our Constitution urges.
Gods bless Rev. Devlin Scott and grant all of us the wisdom of respect for one another. Martin’s message should not be forgotten, and only at the peril of us all.
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
“A More Perfect Union” is the name of a speech delivered by then Senator (President) Barack Obama on March 18, 2008, in the course of the contest for the 2008 Democratic Party presidential nomination.
Yesterday’s MLK celebration was a wonderful event with young people leading the way and yes this fabulous sermon from Pastor Scott. Loved that he laid out the public commentary that is all too often a distraction from the important goal. “Let’s make room for affordable housing. Sure, we should consider traffic patterns, overcrowded schools and neighborhood density, but may that never distract us from what is most important – our neighbors.”
I think most of us know that Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis. Some will remember why he was in Memphis. He was there to support striking trash collectors. Dr King literally gave his life so human beings at the very bottom of the economic spectrum would be treated fairly by their employer….
Fast forward 40 years or so. Dr King’s sacrifice was a lesson lost on city “leaders” here in Newton as the Board of Aldermen considered a new trash contract with Waste Management, a company that had recently been convicted of criminal charges for defrauding their own trash collectors of pay. Newton accepted Waste Management’s proposal to just eliminate most of the trash collector’s jobs and switch to the automated system we still use today.
It’s easy to remember Dr. King’s legacy. It’s a whole other thing to actually learn from it.
I find Rev. Scott’s message very thought-provoking. We all know that we should be talking with each other and listening–it’s not just courteous, it’s morally right. Unfortunately, such engaged conversations are more and more difficult and rare in public discussions today. We need moral inspiration like Rev. Scott’s to be better human beings.
I was also very curious that none of the frequent commenters on Village14 against the need for more housing in Newton had any remarks to make here. But I found some remarks from one frequent anti-development commenter on another thread.
On the thread, Are there excessive bike spaces at Northland? | Village 14 https://village14.com/2020/01/19/are-there-excessive-bike-spaces-at-northland/#ixzz6Bi6CdTGB
@MattLai said:
QUOTE
Showing some restraint and not commenting on the parallel post by Pastor Scott’s speech on MLK day, on “Let’s Make Room”. His idealism is commendable, but we must not forget the realism/pragmatism that must go with that. I love chocolate cake, but it’s irresponsible to eat it 3 meals/day, 7 days/week.
UNQUOTE
He went on to make other remarks about how Rev. Scott’s message is impractical.
Full disclosure: On that thread, I called out @MattLai for being disrespectful and patronizing by not posting his comments here and by claiming that excluding people on this thread from the discussion was “restraint” on his part. I also asked the moderators to move his comments from that thread to this one. I don’t know whether they will.
Here, I want to say that I do see an impractical side to Rev. Scott’s message, but it’s a very different one than @MattLai. I find it very impractical to try to talk to Newton residents who see no problem with creating institutional barriers against working-class and middle-class people renting or buying homes in Newton. When I’ve tried and when I’ve observed others trying, I find that they don’t listen or engage with anyone else’s view. They don’t come to the table to try to find a solution.
Yet I recognize Rev. Scott’s recommendation to come to the table constitutes the moral high ground. So at what point do we stop trying to engage with the haters among us? Isn’t it better to use our limited time and energy in building a coalition that goes around those who refuse to even come to the table?
I love this and I want to hear more from him.
NUFR: you speak of being better human beings yet pull something into this thread that was not intended. Oh, the irony.
Well there’s plenty of room on mayor fullers Street. Let’s talk about inequality of wealth if you want to talk about making room.
No one here seems to make a connection between the current state of the finance system, where trust funds, and other means of keeping wealth in the family are accumulating more and more in the hands of the few. Single family zoning maybe one part of it, but it’s not the only part.
The lack of middle class jobs is a big part of the affordable housing problem.
And as was pointed out in yesterday’s Boston Globe, the current fad of building up in Boston is also driving housing costs- when moving west of Boston offers better prices and also good jobs. Lacking is good hs rail into Boston. But go west young man is still worth thinking about.
But some people seem to be anti development for anything outside of Newton.
@Rick: It’s icky how often you bring up where Mayor Fuller lives on different threads here. Just sayin.
Great speech, Devlin!
It’s not icky. It’s completely relevant just like pointing out for instance that Mitt Romney is a billionaire. It’s my opinion that this is partly why she seems so out of touch with the people on the north side. Like the nation, Newton is becoming more and more unequal. The new zoning will make this even more so.
Besides, I didn’t say where she lives. But there’s a lot of room there for more people, I imagine.