RIP John Lewis

John Lewis, famed political leader and Civil Rights activist, has died. 

Like Rock and Roll, he's been part of the tapestry upon which my own life's understanding of the world evolved.  I know of him, though not much about him.  In some ways, he has been treated by the popular media and general pop culture the way we Americans are supposed to have deified and mythologized people like the Founding Fathers.

Being alive and in politics, there were certainly cases of discord and controversy.  Usually when it was filtered through the press, however, it never seemed to be something that would stick to him, and we more or less knew it. 

So John Lewis the myth, the legend, the demigod was someone I grew up hearing about, especially the last couple decades of life.  But behind that was no doubt John Lewis the human being.  Someone who risked much to fight for what he believed at a time when what he believed was right.  That type of courage and sacrifice covers a multitude of failings.  Perhaps even sins.  It isn't a blank check for absolving everything, but it does remind us that things have gotten better since the days of his toughest fights, despite the current attempt to convince  minorities that Jim Crow was never so bad as today.

So RIP John Lewis.  I pray God welcome his spirit into His loving arms and cover Lewis and his family, and all who mourn for him, with the peace of Christ which covers all understanding.  Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.