2026 Pilgrim’s progress chapter 7

Reflections on the Pilgrimage to Montgomery

I was very anxious about this trip ahead of time, because of the long drive and amount of walking, but I felt compelled to go and see for myself the Legacy Museum, the Lynching

Memorial and the Edmund Pettus Bridge at Selma. I wanted to experience the sites where the Civil Rights Movement began and where so many people had made sacrifices in the cause of freedom. However, I survived the van trip, and saw almost everything I wanted to, and I couldn’t be more grateful to have done it and had the experience of seeing for it for myself.

My overwhelming emotion after visiting the sites was sadness for the suffering that Black people have endured ever since they were kidnapped from Africa, right up until today. The Museum begins with the brutal Middle Passage across the Atlantic, and ends with Mass Incarceration, which is still going on. Probably the most devastating parts for me were the museum display on lynching, and the Lynching Monument. The thought that an individual could be randomly murdered, with the murderer not being held accountable, was intolerable, and contrary to any acceptable idea of justice. There were at least 6,000 known lynchings.

But the sadness was tempered by my deep admiration for the courage that so many individuals showed in the struggle for freedom, such as Rosa Parks, John Lewis, Martin Luther King, Jonathan Daniels, and countless others. I also experienced a tremendous feeling of love from the many Black people I encountered during my visit, including our fellow guests at the hotel, and the staff and visitors at the Legacy Sites, (with the exception of one grouchy bus driver!) And especially the incredible welcome we got at the Deepwoods Diner in Haynesville, between Selma and Montgomery, and the delicious Soul Food we ate there.

I’m also grateful to have done this trip with a group from church, because of the important role that churches played in the Civil Rights movements. I am convinced that their faith has sustained African Americans throughout their long ordeal. I can’t think of a better witness to the power of the love of Christ and the grace of God.

I am reminded of this quotation from my late husband, the Rev. Earl Brill: “Grace is the mystery that sustains the faithful in the midst of the unknown. It is the source of

hope that inspires courage and fortitude, that keeps us going when the going is especially tough, our bearings are uncertain and the goal seems very far away.”