Hidden Figures: Excellence Despite Injustice - Progressive (Colossians 3:23-24)

In the heart of NASA’s Langley Research Center during the 1960s, three remarkable women, Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, forged their paths in a world that sought to confine them. Imagine Katherine, with her sharp pencil and tireless spirit, hunched over a desk in a dimly lit office. The air is thick with the scent of coffee and machines humming softly in the background. Each day, she faced not just equations and trajectories, but the heavy hand of systemic racism, where even the simplest act of sharing a coffee pot was a reminder of her exclusion.

Yet, Katherine worked with a tenacity that transcended the bitterness around her. She approached her calculations not just as tasks for NASA executives who saw her as less than human, but as offerings to the Lord. She embodied the truth of Colossians 3:23-24, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.” In doing so, she transformed her labor into a form of resistance—a declaration that her worth was not contingent upon the recognition of her colleagues, but rooted in her identity as a beloved child of God.

As she persisted, her work became a powerful protest against injustice. Every number she crunched, every trajectory she calculated was a subversive act, pushing against the weight of a system that sought to diminish her. And while human masters may have overlooked her brilliance, she knew that “from the Lord you will receive the inheritance.” In those moments of despair, Katherine and her colleagues didn’t just endure; they paved the way for justice, illuminating a path for future generations. Their excellence was not merely a response to oppression; it was a testament to their faith, a rallying cry for all of us to work heartily in pursuit of justice, knowing that our labor is seen and cherished by the One who created us.