Rev. Dr. Brad Braxton delivers explosive MLK address at Roanoke College
by S. Hale
“You came here tonight to hear an address. I came tonight to enlist you in the Herculean task of transforming the world.”
With that said, keynote speaker Rev. Dr. Brad Braxton launched into an explosion of tenets that spoke to the theme “A Blueprint for the Beloved Community, Vocation, Values and Voice.”
Martin Luther King’s “Beloved Community” was one of the iconic civil rights leader’s many visions of a society rooted in social justice, equality and love for all mankind.
Braxton is a Salem native who was once Senior Minister of the famed Riverside Church, NYC. Additionally he is director, Center for the Study of African American Religious Life and the Supervisory Curator of Religion at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History, Washington, DC.
Braxton has an impressive bio that is an extensive list of positions and accomplishments. As a world-class Baptist minister and Rhodes Scholar Braxton has preached and lectured globally in some of the most prestigious international institutions and settings imaginable.
Among the number of academic and religious, is also author of several books and numerous essays on religious practices and social justice.
Quite evident is the fact that men of the cloth, spirited as Braxton, are not made but born with the fire of the gospel. They stand alone fueled by the intrinsic passion that burns from within.
Visibly disturbed by the troubled state of humanity as we know it, Dr. Braxton laid down the bold truth during his talk at a commemorative celebration honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. held January 21 in the Workman Ballroom at Colket Center, Roanoke College, Salem.
Attendants packed the hall–hanging on each of his prophetic words as Braxton fervently etched out the causes of our troubled society. Point-by-point, he followed up with remedial measures which although biblically based–spoke to his intent to initiate creation of “moral profits” as apposed to the creation of “monetary profits.”
Braxton paces and moves feverishly as he empowers listeners–ushering them from a state of hopelessness to hope!
Early in his hour-long talk, he mentioned a plethora of issues as: violence, poverty, terrorism, natural catastrophes, failing economies, diseases, as cancer and AIDS, corporate and even religious institution corruption, illiteracy and others that continue to plague our world.
“These desperate circumstances do not allow leaders, scholars and activists, etc. to remain locked in ivory towers singing sweet song’s about God… while the world hurdles on a highway to hell.” He declared them “serious problems in need of serious solutions.”
Rev. Braxton is a man with an amazing moral compass who stands unabashed as a courageous soldier of religious and social justice–empowering those in search of a guiding light.
During the Q&A that followed, one attendee asked Braxton to reflect on what he will tell God that he is most appreciative of, upon meeting his maker (God).
To that, Braxton paused, then said he would be most thankful for “his ability to laugh.” After a moment of reflection he told a final story of laughing at the funeral of his father, Rev. James A. Braxton, prominent and former pastor of First Baptist Church, Salem.
“To laugh at myself, to laugh when things sometimes aren’t even funny, you’ve got to dig down deep. I finally fully realized this gift on the day we buried my father. When I scooped up some of the dirt to place in the hole in which he was buried, the strangest thing happened.”
In a most illustrious manner Braxton said, “At the moment I committed my father’s body to the ground, some of the most delicious, guttural laughter I have ever experienced came over me. The laughter was God’s way of saying ‘“In a world where I raise that which is dead… realize that there will be a family reunion in the afterlife.”
It was a moment that brought out the true essence of Baptist ministry.
This most engaging event was sponsored by Roanoke College Departments of Multicultural affairs, Student Activities and Community programs as well as the Donald L. Jordan Endowment for Humanities and the Morgan Churchman Lecture and Speakers Series.
