Gracious God, the great orchestrator, we give you thanks for the pioneering artistry of Henry Lewis, born in Los Angeles in 1932, who, as a 16-year-old double bass virtuoso, joined the LA Phil and became the first instrumentalist of African descent in a major symphony orchestra. On this day in 1968, he was named conductor and music director of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, a community ensemble he elevated to the ranks of the nation’s top orchestras; and in 1972, he became the first person of African descent to conduct at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Help us be humble enough as a nation to remember how recently these barriers of bigotry fell and how tolerable they were to so many for so long. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
