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Legacy is in Your Hand!

Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand? Exodus 4:2

On Sunday, January 11th, Scarritt Bennett hosted the Women of Faith panel in conjunction with the Interdenominational Minister’s Fellowship (IMF) MLK Day Week activities. The panel discussion was entitled Legacy in Her Hands: Women of Faith Keeping the Dream Alive.

Before Rev. Kelli X led the intergenerational conversation with Gloria McKissack, civil rights trailblazer, Rev. Alisha Haddock, community leader, and Diamond Bell, community organizer, I opened the gathering with the age-old question God posed to Moses in Exodus 4:2 which still resonates with me now, What is that in your hand?

This is not a question of curiosity. It is a question of calling. When God asked Moses this question, Moses was hesitant, afraid, and convinced he was unqualified. What he held was not a sword or a crown, it was a staff. A simple, ordinary tool used for tending sheep, not confronting Pharaoh. Yet, God chose what Moses already had and transformed it into an instrument of liberation.

Exodus 4:2 teaches us:

· God does not wait for us to acquire more power

· God activates what is already placed in our hands

· Justice begins with availability, not perfection

The tools for justice of faith, wisdom, compassion, voice, strategy, love are already present among us.

Scarritt Bennett Center is a place, a toolshed, where faith refuses to be silent, where conscience confronts power, and where women have long been entrusted with shaping the moral imagination of our nation. We live in a time when militarism shows up on American streets, when immigrant communities live in fear, when children go hungry in one of the wealthiest nations on earth, and when democratic norms are strained by the concentration and misuse of power. These realities demand more than commentary. They demand courageous, faithful responses. Dr. King warned us that militarism, racism, and economic exploitation are intertwined. To ignore one is to enable others. Therefore, we invite you to be co-creators of justice. To live out the dream and not merely recite it.

As co-creators of justice, we are called to:

· Stay awake to suffering and refuse normalization of injustice

· Organize compassion through service to the most vulnerable

· Advocate boldly for policies that protect dignity and life

· Practice nonviolence as a way of life, not just a strategy

· Build unity across generations, faiths, and communities

It means refusing despair. It means grounding resistance in nonviolence. It means believing still that the Beloved Community is possible.

Let us continue the Dream…through service, through justice, and through unity …. together.

Let’s Pray:

Gracious God,

We come before You with humble hearts, grateful for Your presence among us and mindful that You are still speaking, still calling, still commissioning.

Just as You asked Moses long ago, you ask us today:

“What is in your hand?”

Not what we lack. Not what we fear. But what You have already entrusted to us.

God, help us to see that legacy is not distant – it is within reach. It rests in our hands, in our voices, in our choices, in our willingness to respond.

Where our hands feel ordinary, remind us that You specialize in using the ordinary for extraordinary liberation.

Where our hands tremble with doubt, steady us with courage.

Where our hands are tired from the work of justice, renew our strength.

Where our hands have been clenched in fear or comfort, open them again for service.

Teach us to recognize the staff in our hands, our gifts, our influence, our compassion, our faith and to offer them fully to You.

In a world wounded by violence, hunger, injustice, and division, may our hands become instruments of peace, tools of healing, and signs of hope.

Let our hands feed the hungry, protect the vulnerable, challenge injustice, and build unity where there is fragmentation.

God, we do not ask for another generation to carry the Dream for us. We accept responsibility now.

Today, we place our hands and the legacy they hold, back into Your hands.

Use us…Guide us…Send us.

For the sake of justice, for the work of love, and for the building of Your Beloved Community.

We pray this in faith, with courage, and with commitment. Amen.

With outstretched hands,

Rev. Dr. Sondrea L. Tolbert

Women of Faith panelists, chairs, Tab Mundy, Chairwoman IMF MLK Day Committee 

IMF MLK DAY Committee members and young ambassadors