Love Your Enemies

Denise McNair. Cynthia Wesley. Addie Mae Collins. Carole Robertson.

The bombing of Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church took the lives of four teenage girls. The dynamite, placed under the front steps of the church, was detonated at 10:22 a.m. on September 15, 1963, well before the 11:00 a.m. service was to start. But beneath the church, Sunday School teachers and children had already gathered, including Denise, Cynthia, Addie Mae, and Carole.

After the explosion, one stained-glass window survived. It depicted Jesus as the Good Shepherd. Only the face was destroyed by the blast.

Survivors, extolling the details of that day, included the story of the passage the children were reading just before the bomb went off. From the Gospel of Matthew .....

"But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you." – Matthew 5:44