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Key Bible Verse: His purpose was to make peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new person from the two groups (Ephesians 2:15). Bonus Reading: 1 John 4:20–21

Next morning when the stores opened on Main Street, several unwelcome visitors were patrolling the sidewalks, carrying signs they had fashioned during the long night. The store owners, police, and authorities were caught totally by surprise. In response to my father's passionate plea, a full-scale boycott, complete with demonstration marches and picketers, had begun.

During the previous night the police had realized it was a mistake to have children locked up in the city jail and had invited us to leave. But we'd vowed not to leave unless everyone else was released. Eventually the officers carried all us children out of the jail. They kept my father and his young, white sidekick locked up for several days.

But that only fanned the fire. People saw my mother standing on the corner and heard her passionate appeal. "They got my husband locked up in that jailhouse for no reason," she'd yell. "Go spend your money somewhere else. We gon' hit them where it hurts!" Most heeded her. Even some who'd put Christmas items on layaway sacrificed them in order to make the boycott work.

My father was released from jail on Christmas Eve.

—Spencer Perkins in More Than Equals

My Response: Something I believe in strongly enough to suffer hardship for is …

Thought to Apply: Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
—Martin Luther King, Jr.

Adapted from: More Than Equals (Intervarsity, 1993/2000) by permission.

Prayer for the Week

Lord, make me willing to endure discomfort in order to reach out as a reconciler.

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