Happy MLK Day Monday, friends.
Today I am grateful, and sober, as I give thanks for the life, the death, and the resurrection of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Growing up, I often felt like I was born in the wrong era. I wished that I been born a quarter of a century earlier, so that I could’ve taken part in the transformation of our country that started unfolding in the 1960s.
But, y’know what? The need for transformation is still here. And the work for justice that honors the full humanity – and the full divinity – of us all still needs to be done.
At some point, I made peace with the fact that this is indeed the right time for me to be alive and in the world.
I believe the same thing about you, as well.
I hope you find a moment today to connect with those dreams that still need dreaming, to give thanks for the stony road we’ve trod, and “facing the rising sun of our new day begun, let us march on till victory is won.”
peace,
Ann-Louise
P.S. As always – a tip o’ the hat to Mark Birge-Anderson for yet another lovely image of the sunrise, and to James Weldon Johnson for crafting those powerful lyrics to Lift Every Voice and Sing.
Click on the image above for a “visual poem” in honor of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
(image by Kelly Lattimore)
We are still in the season of Epiphany – open to new awakenings
about the mystery of God with Us.
(Image by Mark Birge-Anderson)
“There is nothing wrong with a traffic law which says you have to stop for a red light. But when a fire is raging, the fire truck goes right through that red light, and normal traffic had better get out of its way. Or, when a man is bleeding to death, the ambulance goes through those red lights at top speed. … Disinherited people all over the world are bleeding to death from deep social and economic wounds. They need brigades of ambulance drivers who will have to ignore the red lights of the present system until the emergency is solved. Massive civil disobedience is a strategy for social change which is at least as forceful as an ambulance with its siren on full.”
from The Trumpet of Conscience
by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
As I was preparing the sermon for January 16th, I got to thinking about the role that Jesus’ mother played in the miracle of turning water into wine at the wedding at Cana. Quiet, and in the background – but also discretely direct and definitely involved.
That led me to wonder about the mother of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. What role did she play in his development and leadership? I realized that I didn’t even know her name. I resolved to learn more.
Born in 1903, Alberta Williams King – like Mary – was a quiet, driving force in the life of her son. She was college educated, played the organ, engaged with the NAACP and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, and it was in her lap that Dr. King first had racism explained to him. Also, it turns out that the power of the pulpit at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church entered the King family through her lineage.
If you want to learn just a little more about her, you can read this entry in the online King Encyclopedia, or watch this news pieceabout her.
Thanks be to God for mothers!
(Above photo by Trent Erwin on Unsplash)
| Want to engage in some “armchair activism” to honor this day? Support the passage of National Voting Rights Legislation Call your senator to share your support for eliminating the filibuster and protecting voting rights. Read & sign the Community Renewal Society’s 2022 Reparations Pledge |
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