When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds of despair, and when our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a creative force in this universe, working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil, a power that is able to make a way out of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice. - Martin Luther King, Jr.From MLK's daughter Bernice: “[My mother] raised four kids while helping to raise a nation and keep it from teetering on the edge of continual violent outbreaks. Yes, there were riots after my dad was assassinated, but really, I think her posture when she went to Memphis to lead that march he was scheduled to lead, and what she said was so critical to quelling some of the tension at the time.”
“The one thing that would be dishonorable for us, is to bring all this attention to the assassination of Dr. King and not have a resurrection of the efforts and unfinished business dealing with systematic racism, systematic poverty.” - Rev. Dr. William Barber II
As we sit and reflect on his legacy, I think it is important for us to pick up his mantle and do the work that was left undone after his assassination, on racism, poverty and militarism (anti-war).
So if you are willing, take a moment and read his words, reflect on them and then act:
- Letter from Birmingham Jail
- Paul's Letter to American Christians
- Beyond Vietnam
- Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution
- Letter from a Region in My Mind by James Baldwin
- Thomas Merton and the civil rights struggle
- You can watch video reflections on these here.
We give thanks today for our brother Martin and for the ways you spoke through him to expose the poverty of our wealth, the insecurity of our war-making, and the contradictions of our racism. Give us grace to love you among the least today, O Lord, and to live the good news Martin preached in his life and in his death. Amen. (Common Prayer)
Almighty God, by the hand of Moses your servant you led your people out of slavery, and made them free at last: Grant that your Church, following the example of your prophet Martin Luther King, may resist oppression in the name of your love, and may secure for all your children the blessed liberty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Lesser Feasts and Fasts)
No comments:
Post a Comment