CALVARY MEMORIAL CHURCH

CALVARY WHERE LIVES ARE CHANGED

Softly and Tenderly (March 7th)

When the body of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was returned to Atlanta for burial, his friends at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference wanted his body taken from the church in a wagon pulled by two Georgia mules, signifying King’s concern for the “least of these.” They found a suitable wagon in an antique store in West End, but it was closed. Unable to find the owner, they simply “borrowed” it. On April 8, 1968, mourners at Ebenezer Baptist Church sang “Softly and Tenderly,” then King’s body was borne away on the wagon. Watching on television, the owner of the antique store didn’t recognize his wagon, but when he stopped by his shop and found it missing, he put two and two together. He didn’t mind, and today the wagon stands in the visitor center of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta.
Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling,
Calling for you and for me;
See, on the portals He’s waiting and watching,
Watching for you and for me.
Why should we tarry when Jesus is pleading,
Pleading for you and for me?
Why should we linger and heed not His mercies,
Mercies for you and for me?
Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing,
Passing from you and from me;
Shadows are gathering, deathbeds are coming,
Coming for you and for me.
Come home, come home,
Ye who are weary, come home;
Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling,
Calling, O sinner, come home!


Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.
Matthew 25:40

Morgan, R. J. (2013). Devotions for lent (ebook shorts): meditations based on best-loved hymns. Grand Rapids, MI: Revell.

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