To listen to this sermon, click here.
Note: This sermon features Ed Frank as Larry King, Alicia King as Lois Gibbs, and Rev. Brooks Berndt as Rev. Jimmy Bartlett. The sermon is based on an actual interview with Lois Gibbs by the magazine New Internationalist.
Hebrew Scripture Readiing-Exodus 2: 23-25 
Larry King: Good morning viewers, on Larry King Live, we have a special show for you this Mother’s Day. Nearly thirty years ago, our nation was shocked by a story that jumped to our headlines from a small working class community in Niagara Falls, New York. The name of the community was Love Canal.
What we learned was that the elementary school of Love Canal was built upon a toxic waste dump. Children were becoming sick and nothing was being done about it-that is until a brave mother named Lois Gibbs took action. Today, we have Lois Gibbs with us as well as Rev. Jimmy Bartlett, the Pastor of Love Canal United Church of Christ. First, a question for you Lois: Who was Lois Gibbs before any of this happened?
Lois: Larry, to be honest, I knew nothing about the environment and was not particularly concerned. I simply wanted to live the American Dream and have a white picket fence, a healthy family, and well-adjusted children.
Larry: Then, what happened?
Lois: The trouble started after we moved to Love Canal in 1972, but I didn’t fully understand what was happening to us until five years later when I read in a news article about how Hooker Chemical Company had used the Canal as a toxic waste dump in the early 1950s. The article said that a variety of health problems could be related to exposure to the chemicals buried beneath the neighborhood. My son Michael had many of the illnesses that were listed in the article: epilepsy, liver disease, blood disease, asthma, and a urinary tract infection that required two surgeries. He had all that before he turned five. Yet, when we first moved to Love Canal, there had been nothing wrong with him. Michael attended the 99th Street School, located directly on top of the Canal. And at the start, my primary concern was the school. I went to the Board of Education and said that I wanted Michael to be transferred into a safer school. I had with me two doctor’s letters, which they had told me I would need. But when I explained that I wanted Michael transferred, they told me that if the school was unsafe for Michael Gibbs, it was unsafe for the other 470 children enrolled there. And they told me they weren’t about to close down the school because of one irate hysterical mother with a sickly child. That was the most devastating thing I had ever heard. I came home and could not even talk. How could they say that to me? The child was sick. I had documentation from my physicians. And they refused to help. I was appalled.
Larry: What did you do next?
Lois: I decided to call my state representatives and my Congressman and even the Governor. I felt very intimidated. I lacked self-confidence. I didn’t know whether I had the right to call these people and ask for their help. I felt inadequate talking to them, stuttering and stammering all the way. But after talking to a number of them, my lack of self-confidence and my insecurities quickly turned to anger, because nobody was doing anything. All I could think of was, if something is not done soon and I continue to send this child to school, I’ll lose him. That was the bottom line.
Larry: Before we continue, let’s hear from Rev. Bartlett. You were a pastor in Love Canal at the time. Some might ask how God could let something like this happen to children like Michael Gibbs.
Jimmy: Well, Larry, that’s a good question. I’d answer it by looking at the story of Moses. As you know, the Israelites were enslaved by the Egyptians. The Bible tells us that at a certain point the cry of the Israelites rose up to God. God saw what was happening and decided to do something about it. Well, one could ask why didn’t God prevent them from being enslaved in the first place? The way I look at it is this. At the center of the universe is God’s beating heart. It sends love throughout the cosmos and all around this place we call earth. For God’s love to become active, it first requires ears to hear and eyes to see. It is up to us to be those ears and eyes.
Larry: It sounds like Lois was providing some ears and eyes, but nothing was happening.
Jimmy: Yes, there are times when it looks like nothing is being done. All one hears are the cries and groans of the oppressed. That’s often a time of preparation. Before Moses became a leader, he first spent some time in a wilderness area called Midian. That’s where Moses enrolled in a crash course on faith. Paul Tillich once said, “Faith is the courage to be.” Faith and courage don’t always come easy. Like Lois, Moses at first lacked self-confidence. He even stuttered and stammered.
Larry: Alright, let’s return to Lois. What did you do after you encountered that initial wall and none of the politicians were responding?
Lois: I decided to go out door-to-door and see if other parents were willing to shut down the school and whether they were experiencing similar health problems with their children. That was the most traumatic thing in my life. I put a petition together and practiced it at home for about a week. I started with the first ring of homes around the Canal. I do not know what I expected, but when I got to the first door I broke out in a cold sweat. I had to go to the bathroom. So I just picked up and ran all the way home. I just could not do it.
That night, Michael got very sick-a 105 degree fever. I had to take him to the emergency room for treatment. That drove home to me the reality that if I continued to be a ‘scaredy-cat’ nothing was going to change. The politicians, the School Board, the neighbors-nobody was doing anything. It was up to me. So after that I went back out, took a deep breath as each neighbor opened the door and said what I had to say. I was waiting for people to slam their doors and think I was crazy. But people were very supportive-and they started to ask questions. It was then that I discovered that not just the 99th Street School but the whole community was affected. People told me about 12-year-old girls having hysterectomies, men and women with severe cancers. When people realized that their problems were shared by others, we were able to form the Love Canal Committee which later became the Love Canal Home Owners Association.
Larry: That’s when things got rolling, isn’t it? Your association demonstrated, brought in celebrities like Jane Fonda, and kept causing a raucous until the school was closed and nearby houses were evacuated. In the end, the government evacuated nine hundred households. So Pastor Bartlett, was this the work of a God who listened and cared?
Jimmy: I think so Larry. I think this is the story of a mother who became a Moses. She not only became the ears and eyes of God, she became the hands and feet of God as she walked from house to house and knocked on doors. One might even say that through her many of us came to hear the voice of God calling us to justice.
Larry: Lois is Moses. That rhymes. Well, Lois, where are we today?
Lois: Today, there are other Lois Gibbs all across the country, people sitting there knowing that they have a problem and that nobody is doing anything about it. And many of them say to themselves, “I can’t do anything. We can’t change anything.” But with some encouragement and some help, they often can. I received letters and calls from thousands of people asking what they could do in their communities, how they could do a health survey, how they could move government. That led me to set up the Citizen’s Clearinghouse on Hazardous Wastes-to help the other Lois Gibbs who have not taken the steps we did in Love Canal.
Larry: So who is Lois Gibbs now?
Lois: The one thing I have now that I did not have before is a purpose and a goal in life. I know now that there is something I can do, a contribution I can make. And that gives me a lot of satisfaction. When people call now and say “We won over here” or “We got what we asked for,” I feel great.
Larry: Thanks to you there are Moses everywhere now.
Jimmy: Amen to that.
Larry: Yes, amen.