It is hard to look with fresh eyes at the meaning of a day that comes every year.
Depending on our age and where we grew up, we may or may not have given a second thought to race relations, the plight of living with rabid discrimination, the hatred birthed from giving too much credence to the color of one's skin.
Yesterday our church showed a video of Martin Luther King's last speech, given the day before his assassination in Memphis, TN. I was struck by his prophetic words, "I may not be with you...but I've been to the mountaintop." Did he know he would die early? Did God give him insight into the early exit from his earthly endeavor to inspire freedom, equality and a remembrance of our faith?
With time to ponder on this holiday and the help of Google, I ran across ten quotes from Dr. King, one of which was expressed in his imaginary letter from the Apostle Paul to American Christians, delivered as a sermon on November 4, 1956. "Paul" [a.k.a. Martin Luther King] says to us, even 56 years ago, that our spiritual development has not kept pace with our amazing scientific strides and reminds us to concentrate on faith.
When exactly are we going to change that?
In another 56 years?
The recipe for change that Dr. King so embraced is simple: investigation of God and Jesus, willingness to let love drive out hate, and time in our personal agenda to let these take hold.
Thank you, Dr. King, for remembrance.
