Martin Luther King Day
Sirach,
Chapter 21, Verse 6
Whoever hates correction
walks the sinner’s path, but whoever fears
the Lord repents in his heart.
At times God asks us to leave our personal Egypt’s and leads
us into the desert to correct our sinful ways so he can make us more by raising
us up.
What is
your “Egypt”? What is your temptation, your land of (empty) promise? What has
placed you under bondage? For some it could be that “dream” job across the
country. For others it could be that big house, or luxury car. Chances are, if
you find yourself saying something like, “Things would better if I could
only…”, then you have an “Egypt” of your own. In most cases your “Egypt” is
really just another heap of steaming trouble, bundled in empty hope and wrapped
with false promise. God knows that humility, and a sense of self-worth centered
in God’s grace and not in “things” and “stuff” is what leads to a heart that is
not been made cynical by the disappointments of materialism. A humble and
compassionate heart is softer, fertile ground made ready and willing to love. We
must find contentment in the
immutable, in the unwavering God. Only then will the distractions, the idols,
and the daily lies we tell ourselves to feel okay… only then will they start to
fall away and we can be fully Present. Being Present means to exist fully in
the now, in this moment. Not regretting the past, not worrying
about the future, but fully mindful and present in the moment at hand.
Then you would be able to give this text your full attention, and not simply a
cursory scan. You would find yourself really listening to someone speaking, and
not simply waiting for a chance to talk. And most importantly, your find
yourself fully enjoying the presence of someone close to you, fully mindful
that in an instant they could be gone. Our personal “Egypt” is a always a
source of bondage and domination. We find ourselves broken through our pursuit
of it, and God forbid, we attain it! Then we realize that its promise and hope
were dust and dreams and there is nothing of substance to sustain us. Where do
we turn to now? We’ve already spent ourselves trying to attain our own personal
“Egypt”? We turn back to God. He is always ready and willing to perform the
next personal Exodus out of another personal Egypt. And you will need God’s
help, for the wisdom of the world and it’s Pharaohs will rise up to stop you
the very moment you start to trust God’s immutable providence for your
life: Wake up. Spread the blood of lamb on the lintels of your soul. Ask God
for salvation from bondage to your own personal Egypt, and God will act in your
life.[1]
Martin Luther King
We celebrate today the legacy of a man who died and lived to
create a culture of justice that ensures the dignity of all men, women and
children in America. Our church also recognizes the need for dignity not only
for mankind but also in marriage and it is only when we recognize the grandeur
of His works that we begin to realize that every man, woman and child is a
wonder wroth by His hands.
The reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) championed a
movement that was based on love and his ideal was to obtain justice by
nonviolent means as expressed in this speech.
Hate begets
hate; violence begets violence; toughness begets a greater toughness. We must
meet the forces of hate with the power of love. Our aim must never be to defeat or humiliate the white man, but to win his
friendship and understanding. “The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is
a descending spiral begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy, instead of
diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar,
but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you
may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely
increases hate. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding
deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out
darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do
that.”[2]
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Then Jesus said
to him, “Put your sword back into its sheath, for all who take the sword will
perish by the sword. (Mt. 26:52)
Character is Destiny[3]
According to John McCain
a person or nations character determines its destiny. McCain points out in his
book Character is Destiny the person who most exemplifies the characteristic of
fairness is that of Martin Luther King, Jr.
John says of King:
From a jail cell he wrote a letter that is one of the most celebrated
documents in American history, and summoned his country to the cause of
justice. “My Dear
Fellow Clergymen,” it began. Recognizing that his correspondents were “men of
genuine good will and your criticisms sincerely set forth,” he promised to
respond in patient and reasonable terms. They were reasonable terms, and
undeniably fair, but patient they were not.
We have
waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights. . .
. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging dark of segregation to say, “Wait.” But
when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and
drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled
policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you
see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight
cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find
your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your
six-year-old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has
just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when
she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds
of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her
beginning to distort her personality by developing unconscious bitterness
toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son
who is asking: “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?”; when
you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night
in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept
you; when you are
humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading “white” and “colored”;
when your first name becomes “nigger,” your middle name becomes “boy” (however
old you are) and your last name becomes “John,” and your wife and mother are
never given the respected title “Mrs.”; when you are harried by day and haunted
by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance,
never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and
outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of
“nobodiness” then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There
comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing
to be plunged into the abyss of despair.
America still struggles internally and externally to arrive at the place
Dr. King had summoned us to, that exalted place that had been the highest
ambition of our Founding Fathers and the highest value we recommend to the rest
of the world; the place where all people are recognized as equal, and endowed
by their Creator with inalienable rights. African Americans recognize the debt
they owe Dr. King’s courage, wisdom, and unshakable sense of fairness. But
Americans of European descent owe him a greater one. At the cost of his life,
he helped save us from a terrible disgrace, the betrayal of our country, and
the principles that have ennobled our history. And that is a debt we must happily bear forever.
Martin
Luther King Facts & Quotes[4]
·
Martin Luther King was awarded the Nobel Peace
Prize in 1964. He was 35 years old, which made him the youngest Peace
Prize winner at that time.
·
I have a dream that my four little children
will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of
their skin, but by the content of their character. - Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr., August 28, 1963.
·
Life's most persistent and urgent question is: 'What are you doing for
others?' - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
·
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. - Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr.
·
Hate is too great a burden to bear. - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Top Events and Things to Do
·
Visit thekingcenter.org
to find out about local events and ways you can help promote unity, justice,
and fight racism.
·
Become a mentor to an underprivileged person in your community through
Big Brothers, or another similar organization.
·
Donate to the United Negro College Fund or other charities
that promote college degree attainment by minorities.
·
Watch a movie about MLK. Some popular films include: Our Friend Martin
(1999), Selma(2014) and The Witness (2008)
49
Godly Character Traits[5]
During
this New Year let us take up the nature of God by reflecting on these traits
that make us a model for our children and our sisters and brothers in Christ.
Today reflect on:
Wisdom vs.
Natural Inclinations
Seeing and responding to life’s situations from God’s frame of reference (Proverbs 9:10)
216 God's
truth is his wisdom, which commands the whole created order and governs the
world. God, who alone made heaven and earth, can alone impart true knowledge of
every created thing in relation to himself.
1865 Sin
creates a proclivity to sin; it engenders vice by repetition of the same acts.
This results in perverse inclinations which cloud conscience and corrupt the
concrete judgment of good and evil. Thus sin tends to reproduce itself and
reinforce itself, but it cannot destroy the moral sense at its root.
1954
Man participates in the wisdom and
goodness of the Creator who gives him mastery over his acts and the ability to
govern himself with a view to the true and the good. The natural law expresses
the original moral sense which enables man to discern by reason the good and
the evil, the truth and the lie:
The natural law is written and engraved in the soul of each
and every man, because it is human reason ordaining him to do good and
forbidding him to sin . . . But this command of human reason would
not have the force of law if it were not the voice and interpreter of a higher
reason to which our spirit and our freedom must
be submitted.
Daily
Devotions
·
Please pray for me and this ministry
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