During day one of the two-day celebration of life for Houston icon Reverend William A. Lawson, held at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church’s new cathedral, Dr. Warren E. Williams read a scripture that summarized Lawson’s ministerial life.
The scripture, Luke 4:18-19, is described by theologians as Jesus’s most direct proclamation of what his ministry was all about: “To preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind; to set at liberty them that are bruised; to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”
“Indeed, Pastor William A. Lawson walked out, yes lived out, [and] loved out the words just read to the Nth degree, with dignity, honor, integrity and supreme trust in God’s provision and protection for his divine calling,” added Williams, a legendary biology professor at Texas Southern University.
Along with the impressive litany of adjectives that describe Lawson, who founded Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church in 1962, the legendary minister known as the “Father of Houston’s Civil Rights Movement” was also a connector, a trait that shown bright during the Thursday, May 23 service by the wide array of attendees representing every facet of life imaginable.
Members of Houston’s progressive, activist community say the African name “Kamau” perfectly describes Lawson, as the name literally means “quiet warrior.”
But there weren’t many quiet moments during Thursday’s service, as Wheeler’s pastor, Dr. Marcus Cosby, who himself was appointed to that position by Lawson, instructed all who had gathered to celebrate Lawson’s life in a way befitting his joyous impact upon their lives.
Cosby followed rousing opening musical numbers to begin the night’s celebration by introducing the officiator for the evening Bishop Dr. James Dixon.
“Pastor Lawson chose him [Bishop James Dixon] to give leadership to this first experience of celebration,” said Cosby during his opening remarks. “Over the years, Pastor Lawson and Bishop Dixon have forged a friendship and brotherhood that has allowed them to do great work in this community.”
“We have come to celebrate the life of our son, God’s servant; a father, a pastor, a prophet, a leader, a teacher, a friend, a beloved angelic personality in our midst,” said Dixon, who then gave attendees a behind-the-scenes look at how Lawson’s services were put together – by Lawson himself.
“This journey with Pastor Lawson to this moment has been about a three-year journey,” shared Dixon, pastor of Community of Faith Church and president of NAACP Houston Branch. “Along with the family, Pastor Lawson started planning this three years ago. He was very detailed and meticulous about what he wanted… and did not.”
Community leaders Martin Cominsky (Interfaith Ministries) and Eileen Morris (Ensemble Theater) shared remarks, as did two of the three daughters of the late Rabbi Samuel Karff (Rachel Weissenstein and Amy Halevy). Karff, along with Lawson and the late Archbishop Joseph A. Fiorenza, made up a multi-faith leadership group affectionately known as “The Three Amigos” who were legendary in their own right for breaking down religious barriers to fight side-by-side for justice and equality in the greater Houston area.
“I volunteered and worked at the Ensemble Theater, and Mrs. Audrey Lawson came by one day to offer her services to the theater and to our founder George Hawkins,” recalled Morris, the Ensemble’s artistic director. “We were elated to have a prominent community member willing to share with us, a new theater community. In those early days, and so many of you all can understand this, it definitely took a village. And Audrey H. Lawson, as a volunteer, came with Rev. Lawson and the four Lawson children, and then later the grandchildren.”
Morris then shared her fondest memory of Lawson: “that he hand-drew and painted graphics for the outdoor marquee for each play.”
“Because of his tremendously busy schedule, he would arrive at the theater around midnight after a day of pastoring. He and Mrs. Lawson would come to the theater and they would gather us volunteers. He would draw on a piece of wood and then ask us to paint in a very specific area the colors that he had designated for the piece. Now, around 4 a.m. or so, it was left for it to dry. This distinguished piece of art would be displayed in the marquee on Main St. for the world to see and experience, not only the play, but the artistic genius of Rev. Lawson – preacher by day and visual artist by night,” she stated.
Powerful musical selections dominated the evening, creating a spirit-filled, jubilant celebration reflecting the joyous, humble and distinguished spirit of Lawson.
Multiple civil rights activists were on program, as well, to honor the work to which Lawson dedicated so much of his life. These included Deloyd Parker (SHAPE Community Center), Howard Jefferson (former NAACP president), David Leebron (president emeritus, Rice University), Judge Kenneth Hoyt and Attorney Gene Locke.
Yolanda Smith, executive director of NAACP Houston, shared remarks in place of Mary Ramos of William A. Lawson Institute for Peace and Prosperity (WALIPP) and LULAC who could not attend the event for health reasons.
Smith, a WALIPP board member, gave remarks that were brief, but cut to the chase and described the very essence of Lawson and his legacy: “Rev. Lawson said God placed us on this earth to protect the powerless from the powerful.”
A veritable who’s who of Houston religionists also offered tributes to Lawson, including Dr. Timothy W. Sloan (pastor, The Luke Church), Dr. Jacques Denkins (pastor, Blessed Hope Baptist Church), Dr. Alexander E.M. Johnson (executive pastor, Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church), Dr. Rudy Rasmus (retired pastor, St. John’s United Methodist Church), Dr. Cleopatrick Lacy (pastor, Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Griffin, GA) and Dr. Joe Samuel Ratliff (pastor, Brentwood Baptist Church).
Dixon closed out the day one proceeding with a rousing tribute of his own to his friend.
Day two of the celebration of Lawson’s life, taking place this afternoon, Friday, May 24 (11 a.m.) at Wheeler, is described as a Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church event, led by worship marshals Rev. Janella Y. Pyles and Dr. Jacques D. Denkins. Cosby will provide the eulogy.
Dixon shares a special word
Here are excerpts from the powerful words of tribute to Lawson shared by Dixon to close out the Community Service of Celebration and Remembrance in which he referenced two scriptures: “And I will give you pastors after my own heart who will feed you with knowledge and understanding” (Jeremiah 3:15) and “Before I formed you in your mother’s womb, I ordained you, I knew you, to be a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5).
“William Alexander Lawson is accurately labeled ‘Houston’s pastor.’ He mastered the dichotomy of being a pastor… called to be both priestly on one hand and prophetic on the other… Most pastors are either priestly or prophetic. Dr. Lawson was a model of both. In the priestly role, one comforts, one consoles, one covers. In the prophetic role, one is courageous, one confronts, one challenges. Dr. Lawson was masterful at being priestly… He had the priestliness about him, but he was also prophetic.”
“Houston needs to know that in the personage of Bill Lawson, William Alexander Lawson, the Reverend Dr. Lawson, God gave Houston His best. Third Ward needs to know that when God deposited William Alexander Lawson in the Third Ward section of Houston, God gave Third Ward His best. And Wheeler Avenue should certainly know that when God placed it upon the heart of this pastor to start Wheeler Avenue Church, God was giving Wheeler His best. A gift from God.”
“When I became a pastor I was somewhat spiritually orphaned. The pastor who licensed me to preach, Dr. Clovis Johnson, has resigned from our church. When the church did call me to pastor at age 18, I was in need of a pastor. I was called to be a pastor with nobody to ordain me. And it was Rev. CD Daniels who put me under his arm, ordained me and installed me. But then, a year later at age 19, I’m trying to do something in the community and Howard Jefferson says, ‘You need to be under Rev. Lawson.’ Well, you’ve got to understand, I pastored the Greater Mt. Pillow Missionary Baptist Church at 5309 Fagan St. The entire lot was only 5,000 ft… the entire building was about 2,000 or so square ft. It was a wood-framed building. I pastored a church that had no connection with a church like Wheeler. I didn’t even know that Pastor Lawson would want to know me. When Howard Jefferson introduces a James Dixon to a William Lawson, and he made me feel important. This was William A. Lawson, the man I see on TV on the news, and he invites me to his home with his Audrey for a meeting at 10 o’clock at night with all of the real decision-makers in the community. ‘Where do you pastor?’ ‘I pastor at Greater Mt. Pillow Missionary Baptist Church.’ ‘Greater Mt. Pillow? Where in the world is Greater Mt. Pillow Missionary Baptist Church?’ People were wondering was it really a church. But Pastor Lawson treated me as if I belonged in the room. He treated me like I belonged in the room. And progressively, he began to expose me to people like Mickey Leland, people like Elizabeth Spates, people who were real decision-makers, and he would say to them, ‘Jimmy Dixon is going to be a great leader.’ I was driving a Grand Prix that was repossessed two or three times. I was living in Broadway Square Apartments on Broadway by Hobby Airport. I was the one getting notices on the door that your rent is behind again. And William Lawson was allowing me in rooms, treating me like I belonged. I got to learn in close proximity what it was like to be a priestly and prophetic pastor.”
“Don’t miss who he really was. He was not just a nice guy doing some good things. William Lawson was deposited on earth from heaven in order to accomplish an assignment that God gave him in order for God to accomplish on Planet Earth what God prophedigally-purposed long before. He knew Houston needed a Bill Lawson for the years he served in this city. Houston, brothers and sisters, needed the voice of a William Lawson. Oh yes, we call Houston a great city. But remember now, prophets are only needed where there are problems. If you don’t hear anything else I say tonight… prophets are only needed where there are problems. In the Bible wherever you saw a prophet rise, prophets were only raised up where there were problems. And a lot of people are faking being prophets because they can’t handle problems. And what we’ve got so much of in pulpits today are those who are not priestly enough to love people, and not prophetic enough to challenge problems… God gave us his best: a man who was priestly enough to love people in crisis, but also a man who was prophetic enough to handle the problems of our times. We talk about what he did, but who here would go to jail? Who here would stand up in front of Herman Short, the racist police chief? Who here would challenge corporate America to do right by Black and poor and Brown people? Who here would challenge the court system to make sure we had a Public Defender’s Office? It took a prophet to handle the problems.”
“And I came by to tell you, we still have some problems. And if we’re going to honor the legacy of Bill Lawson, somebody has to decide, ‘I’ve got to be a prophet.’ It’s not enough for us to celebrate what he did, because Houston still has a problem… Thank God that he gave us his best. And we wanted him to stay here forever. But how much longer should he have to stay? He’s shown us what to do. He’s taught us what to do. He’s demonstrated what to do. How much longer did we want him to stay? It would have been selfish on our part for us to let God keep him here another 20 years.”
“Truth of the matter is, it was time for him to go home. Vance Havner said, ‘If you are a Christian you are not a citizen of this world trying to make it to heaven. You are a citizen of heaven trying to make it through this world.’ Dr. Bill Lawson was not a citizen of this world. He was a citizen of heaven carrying out heaven’s agenda in a hellish place. In a hellish place where minorities get convicted more than anybody else. In a hellish place where DEI has been… in a hellish place where critical race theory has been… in a hellish place where prisons are overcrowded with poor people who can’t pay lawyers. A hellish place where homeless people are on the streets in the most affluent city in the state. It’s a hellish place. It’s a hellish place when voter rights and voter suppression… It’s a hellish place when we don’t have a Voting Rights Act. It’s a hellish place.”
“Pastor Bill Lawson woke up as a prophet every day. Can I tell you what really distinguishes a prophet? Prophets live with miserable maladjustment. Prophets are maladjusted to evil. Are maladjusted to corruption. Prophets are maladjusted to oppression. Dr. Lawson, as calm as he was, remained maladjusted. He could never get comfortable with people suffering. He couldn’t go home and be at ease in his own king-sized bed knowing there were homeless people sleeping on the streets of Houston. He was miserably maladjusted. Not that he wasn’t a happy man, but other people’s misery became his. In other words, sisters and brothers, we need to learn the Lawson life and not the Lawson language. Language is one thing but life is another. You can quote him, but can you copy him? Can you go where he went? Can you do what he did? Can you challenge what he challenged? He remained miserable as long as other people were miserable…”
“When I became president of the NAACP he was complimenting me one day so well, I said, ‘Thank you, Pastor. Thank you, Pastor.’ But then he said, ‘But don’t leave me out the fight.’ He said that from his wheelchair. And I’m saying to us that many of us are walking. We’re healthy. You’ve got five cars. You’ve got a king-sized bed, a three-story house, a 401-K. What’s your excuse, James Dixon? He was in a wheelchair saying, ‘Don’t leave me out the fight.’ Because he understood that you could preach it on a Sunday, but can you fight on Monday? You see, Pastor Lawson being a prophetic voice, did not build Wheeler to be a cruise ship, he built a battleship. And we need more pastors like Lawson who will build ministers to be battleships, not cruise ships. He understood and he implanted this in the spirit of Wheeler. And Dr. Cosby now has a social justice ministry. Because William Lawson left a motto: You don’t sing on Sunday and not serve on Monday.”
“Wherever there’s a prophet there’s a problem. When the children of Israel were in bondage, there was a problem. God sent a prophet named Moses. When they were in the wilderness to get to the Promised Land, God sent a prophet named Joshua. Whenever God sends a prophet, he sends a prophet wherever there’s a problem. And we thank God that when God saw Houston had a problem, he sent William Alexander Lawson. And we ought to praise God tonight that he sent us his best.” “If we’re really going to honor his legacy, what are we going to do about HISD being taken over? If we’re really going to honor his legacy, what are we going to stop this man that’s orange from getting in the White House? If we’re really going to honor his legacy, how many hungry mouths are we going to feed? If we’re really going to honor his legacy, when are we going to go to the White House and demand a Voting Rights Act? If we’re really going to honor his legacy, how many people will we register to vote? If we’re really going to honor his legacy, when are we going to show up at the neighborhood school and make sure every child has lunch and somewhere to sleep that night? Because that’s what Dr. William A. Lawson was all about… Thank you Pope Lawson. You served your time. You did your best. You gave your best. You sacrificed yourself, your family and even your health for serving other people for the glory of God.
