Today at church our pastor made a few comments on Martin Luther King Day. He first commented on how having a day off work does not really do anything to actually honor him and the work he did. He was a man who worked hard and probably didn’t take a lot of days off. I was reminded how I myself just let this holiday come and go. I was disappointed in myself because I actually have always admired MLKJ and he has always been somewhat of a hero of mine. He was a man founded in the Lord that brought about a huge movement of social change with integrity, nonviolence, and perseverance. I can not even imagine what it would be like for God to use me in a way that he used MLKJ. I decided that this year I should try to honor him in some way and so I went back and read his “I have a dream” speech. I haven’t read it since I was a kid. I was struck by really how powerful of a speaker he was and how beautiful his words were. My pastor also commented about MLKJ is most well known for his “I have a dream speech,” but really how it was Jesus’ dream first. We must not forget that we talk about him. I also noticed as I went back over his speech about how much I see Jesus’ message and vision weaved into his words.
Here are some lines from the speech that really grabbed me.
· “Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.”
· “Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.” I don’t really think about how a quest for freedom is abused but it is true. It’s like the world sees freedom as not big enough for everyone so we have to fight over who gets to have it.
· “No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.” Amos 5: 24 “But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” This scripture has always been such a powerful image for me and it has shaped a lot of the way I see justice. I never knew that MLKJ used it in his speech.
· “Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.”What a hard message to hear, but how true it is about the Christian life. Unearned suffering will be redeemed. And he encourages us to not let the suffering paralyze us, but keep working with faith. I have not experienced suffering like African American have. The suffering I have experienced has made me want to keel over and crawl into a ball. Oh Lord, give me MLKJ’s attitude of perseverance through suffering.
· “I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.” Poetry, pure poetry. The images of the sweltering heat to an oasis, beautiful Martin, just beautiful.
· “This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.” I love how he acknowledges that it is only with faith that we can do anything.
Thank you MLKJ for your words of encouragement about God’s promises of redemption. His words are as much true today as they were when he gave them. We still need that message of reconciliation, justice, freedom. Yes, minorities absolutely need justice as racial prejudice is still overpowering in society and traps minorities in cycles of poverty. But we all need that God’s freedom in our lives and faith to persevere through suffering.
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