Dream And Reality
Sermon
Shining Through The Darkness
Sermons For The Winter Season
How can one best understand Dr. King? What was it that formed and empowered him? To understand the primary influences in his life, one must begin on the western shores of Africa before the birth of this country, when the Portuguese first abducted a few blacks for slavery in Europe. To understand King, one must remember and feel the injustice and pain of millions of Africans forcibly transported from Africa to America.
At the age of six, King was told that he could no longer play with a white boy because he, King, was black. Shocked and hurt, King ran home. At the dinner table, his parents recounted the history of black people from Africa up to that particular Atlanta, Georgia, moment.
His mother then told him something that every African-American parent says to his/her children, "Don't let this thing impress you or depress you. You are as good as anyone else, and don't you ever forget it. You are an equal child of God."
King's maternal grandfather was A. D. Williams, who served as pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. He told King's father that ministry properly understood involved not only the making of theological affirmations about God and who God is as defined by Jesus Christ, but that ministry also means the addressing of the gospel to the context and environment in which one finds oneself.
An Atlanta newspaper made racist comments in its editorial. From the pulpit, King's grandfather had some comments of his own to make. How can the gospel of love be changed to service? On one day, 6,000 Atlanta blacks decided not to buy that newspaper any longer, and the paper shut down. In 1931, Martin's father became the new senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist. He proclaimed the gospel and led a protest in Atlanta on behalf of the equalization of pay for black and white schoolteachers. It took eleven years, but he won the battle.
Martin King Jr. was ordained a pastor while still a student at Morehouse College. He decided to continue his studies at Crozer Theological Seminary and was graduated first in his class. He earned his Ph.D. at Boston University; his doctoral dissertation analyzed Paul Tillich's concept of God. For a young, popular, brilliant, black Ph.D. who could speak the language of European theology, there were some very nice teaching jobs in the Northeast universities and seminaries waiting for his decision.
He decided. He accepted a call to be pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. He was grasped by the same forces that had held his grandfather and father by the Christian gospel of liberation for the oppressed.
He preached, and he also became the leader of the Montgomery Bus Boycott protesting the indignity of segregated seating. From the pulpit, King said at the very beginning of his ministry: "If we protest courageously and yet with dignity and Christian love, when the history books are written in the future, somebody will have to say, 'There lived a race of people, of black people, of people who had the moral courage to stand up for their rights. And thereby they injected a new meaning into the veins of history and civilization.' "
He won the bus battle, and the Civil Rights Act, and the Nobel Peace Prize, but the basic battle for liberation, for justice and freedom and peace, continued and continues.
Late in his career, King wrote the following.
Due to my involvement in the struggle for the freedom of my people, I have known very few quiet days in the last few years. I have been arrested five times and put in Alabama jails. My home has been bombed twice. A day seldom passes that my family and I are not the recipients of threats of death. I have been the victim of a near-fatal stabbing. So in a real sense I have been battered by storms of persecution. I must admit that at times I have felt that I could no longer bear such a heavy burden, and have been tempted to retreat to a more quiet and serene life. But every time such a temptation appeared, something came to strengthen and sustain my determination. I have learned now that the Master's burden is light precisely when we take His yoke upon us.
There are some who still find the cross a stumbling block, and others who consider it foolishness, but I am more convinced than ever before that it is the power of God unto social and individual salvation. So, like the Apostle Paul, I can now humbly yet proudly say, "I wear on my body the marks of the Lord Jesus."1
If you don't have something worth dying for, you can't live free.2
On the night before his assassination, in a worship service in Memphis, King cried out his desire for liberation, which transcended race and creed.
What good is a desegregated lunch counter when you can't afford the meal? What do federal regulations desegregating housing mean when you can't afford a house? What does the right to work with people of all races mean when you can't find a job?3
On that last night, King preached the following.
Like anybody I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the Promised Land. So I'm happy tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.4
I have a dream this afternoon that the brotherhood of man will become a reality. With this faith, we will be able to achieve this new day, when all of God's children -- black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics -- will be able to join hands and sing with the ... spiritual of old, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"5
At five minutes after six on the next evening -- April 4, 1968 -- in Memphis, Tennessee, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot dead.
Let us pray: Gracious God we thank you for the gift, the courage, the example, and the faithfulness of your servant -- Martin Luther King Jr. May we, too, be liberators, faithful to your word and will. Amen.
Go in peace, as messengers of justice and liberation, putting love into action.
Sermon delivered January 15, 1985
Weaver Chapel
Wittenberg University
Springfield, Ohio
____________
1. Martin Luther King Jr., Strength To Love (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1981), pp. 153-154.
2. Martin Luther King Jr., I Have A Dream, Writings And Speeches That Changed The World (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1992). Copyright 1986, 1992 by Coretta Scott King. Paraphrase of a speech given on June 23, 1963, in Detroit, Michigan.
3. http://www.religion-online.org.
4. Martin Luther King Jr., from a speech given on April 3, 1968, in Memphis Tennessee.
5. Martin Luther King Jr., from a speech given on June 23, 1963, in Detroit, Michigan.
At the age of six, King was told that he could no longer play with a white boy because he, King, was black. Shocked and hurt, King ran home. At the dinner table, his parents recounted the history of black people from Africa up to that particular Atlanta, Georgia, moment.
His mother then told him something that every African-American parent says to his/her children, "Don't let this thing impress you or depress you. You are as good as anyone else, and don't you ever forget it. You are an equal child of God."
King's maternal grandfather was A. D. Williams, who served as pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. He told King's father that ministry properly understood involved not only the making of theological affirmations about God and who God is as defined by Jesus Christ, but that ministry also means the addressing of the gospel to the context and environment in which one finds oneself.
An Atlanta newspaper made racist comments in its editorial. From the pulpit, King's grandfather had some comments of his own to make. How can the gospel of love be changed to service? On one day, 6,000 Atlanta blacks decided not to buy that newspaper any longer, and the paper shut down. In 1931, Martin's father became the new senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist. He proclaimed the gospel and led a protest in Atlanta on behalf of the equalization of pay for black and white schoolteachers. It took eleven years, but he won the battle.
Martin King Jr. was ordained a pastor while still a student at Morehouse College. He decided to continue his studies at Crozer Theological Seminary and was graduated first in his class. He earned his Ph.D. at Boston University; his doctoral dissertation analyzed Paul Tillich's concept of God. For a young, popular, brilliant, black Ph.D. who could speak the language of European theology, there were some very nice teaching jobs in the Northeast universities and seminaries waiting for his decision.
He decided. He accepted a call to be pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. He was grasped by the same forces that had held his grandfather and father by the Christian gospel of liberation for the oppressed.
He preached, and he also became the leader of the Montgomery Bus Boycott protesting the indignity of segregated seating. From the pulpit, King said at the very beginning of his ministry: "If we protest courageously and yet with dignity and Christian love, when the history books are written in the future, somebody will have to say, 'There lived a race of people, of black people, of people who had the moral courage to stand up for their rights. And thereby they injected a new meaning into the veins of history and civilization.' "
He won the bus battle, and the Civil Rights Act, and the Nobel Peace Prize, but the basic battle for liberation, for justice and freedom and peace, continued and continues.
Late in his career, King wrote the following.
Due to my involvement in the struggle for the freedom of my people, I have known very few quiet days in the last few years. I have been arrested five times and put in Alabama jails. My home has been bombed twice. A day seldom passes that my family and I are not the recipients of threats of death. I have been the victim of a near-fatal stabbing. So in a real sense I have been battered by storms of persecution. I must admit that at times I have felt that I could no longer bear such a heavy burden, and have been tempted to retreat to a more quiet and serene life. But every time such a temptation appeared, something came to strengthen and sustain my determination. I have learned now that the Master's burden is light precisely when we take His yoke upon us.
There are some who still find the cross a stumbling block, and others who consider it foolishness, but I am more convinced than ever before that it is the power of God unto social and individual salvation. So, like the Apostle Paul, I can now humbly yet proudly say, "I wear on my body the marks of the Lord Jesus."1
If you don't have something worth dying for, you can't live free.2
On the night before his assassination, in a worship service in Memphis, King cried out his desire for liberation, which transcended race and creed.
What good is a desegregated lunch counter when you can't afford the meal? What do federal regulations desegregating housing mean when you can't afford a house? What does the right to work with people of all races mean when you can't find a job?3
On that last night, King preached the following.
Like anybody I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the Promised Land. So I'm happy tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.4
I have a dream this afternoon that the brotherhood of man will become a reality. With this faith, we will be able to achieve this new day, when all of God's children -- black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics -- will be able to join hands and sing with the ... spiritual of old, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"5
At five minutes after six on the next evening -- April 4, 1968 -- in Memphis, Tennessee, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot dead.
Let us pray: Gracious God we thank you for the gift, the courage, the example, and the faithfulness of your servant -- Martin Luther King Jr. May we, too, be liberators, faithful to your word and will. Amen.
Go in peace, as messengers of justice and liberation, putting love into action.
Sermon delivered January 15, 1985
Weaver Chapel
Wittenberg University
Springfield, Ohio
____________
1. Martin Luther King Jr., Strength To Love (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1981), pp. 153-154.
2. Martin Luther King Jr., I Have A Dream, Writings And Speeches That Changed The World (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1992). Copyright 1986, 1992 by Coretta Scott King. Paraphrase of a speech given on June 23, 1963, in Detroit, Michigan.
3. http://www.religion-online.org.
4. Martin Luther King Jr., from a speech given on April 3, 1968, in Memphis Tennessee.
5. Martin Luther King Jr., from a speech given on June 23, 1963, in Detroit, Michigan.
