I'm good at missing big dates except for special family ones, and today was no exception. I was not aware until I was off to work that today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. I believe without any doubt that he was one of the most outstanding leaders of the twentieth century. Like most Bible characters he had his flaws, but what he was about, how he led those with him, and what was and is being accomplished through his work will live on.
On Scot McKnight's blog, Jesus Creed, there is a special tribute to him today, with a question as to how his legacy from the "I Have a Dream" speech can impact directly the presidency of Barack Obama. So let's not fail to remember this day, and this is one good way of doing so.
Showing posts with label racism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label racism. Show all posts
Monday, January 19, 2009
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Martin Luther King, Jr
The busyness of the weekend on top of my news programs (This Week, and Meet the Press) failing to tape contributed to my forgetting about yesterday as a national holiday, appropriately remembering the life and gift to us all, of Martin Luther King, Jr. I did wear black jeans and shirt yesterday to honor the day.
We "white" caucasian evangelicals can hardly appreciate the history of "blacks", African-Americans. These brothers and sisters were brought over here from Africa as slaves, and often treated worse than animals. And then their skin color, and beauty from God was despised by members of my own "race", though in actuality we're all members of the same human race.
Martin Luther King, Jr., came on the scene at a most difficult time, when apartheid was the rule in the south, and effectively the general unspoken rule in the north. The vision of our nation's founders written by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence, that "all men are created equal", carried on in the words of Abraham Lincoln in the Gettysburg Address was not being realized in all too many places in this country. Martin Luther King, Jr. carried on this great tradition in his I Have a Dream speech. But he did so at much personal cost, knowing full well it could cost him his life. But he pressed on, as with a mandate from God. And I believe God was in his service to us.
I thank God for Martin Luther King, Jr. Much good has resulted from his work, but much more needs to be done. We need to be sensitive in listening to our African-American brothers and sisters, and appreciating the fact and sad reality that there is still plenty of racism, latent though it may be.
Someday in Jesus, all peoples and creation will be brought to complete unity, celebrating the richness of who we each are, as God's creation, in that new creation in Jesus. We want to see that in Jesus even now, and speak God's truth, even as my nation's founders did, and seek to see it realized in the measure in which it can be. To break down all the barriers and walls that sadly divide us. An ongoing work indeed. And one that should be most manifest and evident among God's people in Jesus.
What would you add to this, or like to say?
We "white" caucasian evangelicals can hardly appreciate the history of "blacks", African-Americans. These brothers and sisters were brought over here from Africa as slaves, and often treated worse than animals. And then their skin color, and beauty from God was despised by members of my own "race", though in actuality we're all members of the same human race.
Martin Luther King, Jr., came on the scene at a most difficult time, when apartheid was the rule in the south, and effectively the general unspoken rule in the north. The vision of our nation's founders written by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence, that "all men are created equal", carried on in the words of Abraham Lincoln in the Gettysburg Address was not being realized in all too many places in this country. Martin Luther King, Jr. carried on this great tradition in his I Have a Dream speech. But he did so at much personal cost, knowing full well it could cost him his life. But he pressed on, as with a mandate from God. And I believe God was in his service to us.
I thank God for Martin Luther King, Jr. Much good has resulted from his work, but much more needs to be done. We need to be sensitive in listening to our African-American brothers and sisters, and appreciating the fact and sad reality that there is still plenty of racism, latent though it may be.
Someday in Jesus, all peoples and creation will be brought to complete unity, celebrating the richness of who we each are, as God's creation, in that new creation in Jesus. We want to see that in Jesus even now, and speak God's truth, even as my nation's founders did, and seek to see it realized in the measure in which it can be. To break down all the barriers and walls that sadly divide us. An ongoing work indeed. And one that should be most manifest and evident among God's people in Jesus.
What would you add to this, or like to say?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
