A Knock at Midnight (from annual meeting)

...As we turn to the parable again we notice that in spite of the man's initial disappointment he continued to knock on the door of his Friend. This is so true of men's experience with the church. How bitterly men and women speak about their disappointment with the church. But in spite of being left disappointed, many continue to knock. In the parable the man continued to knock so patiently and diligently that the man within finally opened the door and gave him bread. Because of his importunity—his persistence, his urgent plea—he was able to persuade his Friend to open the door. It is very doubtful that the man in need of bread would have continued to knock on the friend's door if he had had the slightest notion that there was no bread in his house. He would have left immediately after the Friend impatiently told him to leave. But even though he was at first disappointed he continued to knock because he knew that some bread was in that house. Many men continue to knock on the door of the church at midnight, even though the church has so bitterly disappointed them, because they know deep down within that the bread of life is there. The greatest challenge facing the church today is to keep the bread fresh and remain a Friend to men at midnight. The church must proclaim God's son as the hope of the world. Jesus Christ is the hope of men in all of their complex personal and social problems.22

Many will continue to come by the church in quest for an answer to life's problems. Many young people will knock on the door who are perplexed by the uncertainties of life, confused by the disappointments of life and disillusioned by the ambiguities of history. Some will come who were torn from their schools and careers during the war and thrown into dirty, filthy trenches. Some will come who have been crippled, gassed, or blinded in the dark horrors of war. They will wander here in the midnight of gloom and hopelessness. We must provide them with the fresh bread of hope, and imbue them with the conviction that God is still working with this old sinful world, and he has the power to ring the good out of the evil...

In this sermon, delivered as early as 1958, King speaks candidly about the church's inability to meet the challenges of modern life and the needs of those seeking religious solace. Find it here:

https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/draft-chapter-vi-knock-midnight