Rev. Alberta McCrory, the mayor of Hobson City, delivered this invocation Wednesday night at a reception honoring the Freedom Riders, a group of civil rights heroes who traveled to the South on buses to challenge Jim Crow segregation laws. The first two buses of Freedom Riders were attacked by members of the Ku Klux Klan, and one of the buses was burned outside Anniston on May 14, 1961.

God of our weary years,

God of our silent tears,

Thou who has brought us thus far on our way,

Thou who has by thy might led us into the light,

Keep us forever in your heart, we pray.

Father God, we thank you for bringing us to this time and place,

To celebrate the courage, wisdom and faith of a group of people

Who became known as the Freedom Riders.

People who stood up against injustice,

To do the will of God.

And for that we stop to just thank you,

To say much obliged to you.

We thank you, heavenly Father, that the time of healing has come,

The time of reconciliation is upon us.

Lord, we ask that you order our steps and direct our path;

That you fill us with your Holy Spirit,

So that we may do your will,

That we may do all that you have called and purposed us to do and be.

We pray that your Word will be our weapon.

Help us to know that the things that separate us are not greater than the things that bind us together.

Life is greater than death.

Love is greater than hate.

We pray against those things that separate us:

Race, class, status, religion, political parties, economics.

We pray for our world leaders, for every nation, for every hamlet.

We pray for wisdom, courage, strength and faith,

As we continue to work to make Calhoun County,

Anniston, Alabama and this country a better place in which to live.

Let us not be ashamed nor afraid as we work together and learn from our past,

So that events that brought us to this time never happen again.

Let us march on till there is no more poverty,

No more suffering,

No more hate.

Let us march on until justice rolls down like water,

And righteousness like an everflowing, mighty stream.

Let us march on until victory is won.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.