What I Learned from the MLK Holiday This Year . . .
An excerpt of this post was published in the Washington Daily News on Jan. 25, 2020.
One of the most transformative moments of my life occurred while sitting in historical Ebenezer Baptist Church listening to an audio recording of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s sermon, “the Drum Major Instinct.” For the next fifteen years I was afforded the opportunity to devote thousands of hours to research as I explored his early formation in the racially-hostile South, his formal education, and his subsequent leadership as the spokesperson of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Much more than a movement to secure the rights of all of its citizens, I discovered that the mission of the SCLS was “to save the soul of America.” When I submitted the final draft of my dissertation in the summer of 2014 I offered a prayer of gratitude for having had the opportunity to study one of history’s most inspiring witnesses to the eternal vision of the beloved community. And although I was acutely aware that I had not exhausted all that Dr. King had to teach me, I knew also that I no longer had the luxury of devoting the kind of time I had been granted in previous years trying to absorb the wisdom of the one who confirmed his willingness to die “to free his white brothers and sisters from a permanent death of the spirit.”
Fortunately, each year on the third Monday of January, it is both my privilege and my responsibility as an American citizen to listen again for the inspiration, wisdom, and courage to work toward the fulfillment of the “dream” of an America in which all of God’s children are regarded with dignity and infinite worth. This year, having been attuned to his voice for so long as I listened for countless hours to audio recordings of sermons and speeches, it was as if I could hear him whispering in my ear throughout the day.
When I arrived at the second annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Breakfast and Celebration hosted by Beaufort County Community College (BCCC), it occurred to me that I had not seen many of the people who had gathered for the event since the previous year for the same occasion. One of my primary roles in the common calling to fulfill the vision of the beloved community takes pace in and through the church, and it was if I could hear Dr. King challenging me to honestly assess whether or not my priorities had been properly aligned over the past year. In his sermon “Guidelines for a Constructive Church” he “makes it plain” that the church is not a “social club” of “exclusivism” covered by “a thin veneer of religiosity.” The church, Dr. King reminds listeners, has a purpose. He insisted that the church, properly understood, is to proclaim good news to the poor, deliverance to those who are “slaves of prejudice,” and freedom to those who “are captive to discrimination.” The greatness of a community of faith, according to Dr. King, is not measured by how many physicians, attorneys, educators, and other professionally credentialed members it can boast. The greatness of any community is measured by its willingness to feed those who are hungry, clothe those without adequate clothing, visit those who are ill, and console those who are in prison. I could hear Dr. King challenge me and all those who claim “membership” in the church to realign our priorities with those of the One we claim to follow.
As I left the BCCC Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Celebration, I considered which of his sermons, speeches or writings I would later give my undivided attention. It is one of his longer letters, but I had the profound sense that I needed to re-read his “Letter from the Birmingham Jail.” In it he responds to an open letter written by several “moderate” ministers who had characterized the nonviolent campaign in Birmingham, Alabama as unwise and untimely, despite the fact that it was the most “thoroughly segregated” city in which more murders and bombings had gone unprosecuted than any other city in the nation. Unfortunately, far too many of the social ills Dr. King sought to remedy are still extant today and it would serve us well to heed the criticism of the one who loved us so much that he payed the ultimate price to set us free.
With few exceptions, those who gather as people of faith on Sunday mornings do so in segregated churches. “All Are Welcome” is the claim of most churches, and yet “all” rarely means all. I cannot count the number of times I have met people who courageously and tearfully recall the profound injuries they continue to suffer by the words and actions of confessors claiming to follow the teachings of the one who commanded unconditional love and prayed for our oneness. Having risked believing the sign that reads “all,” many quickly discover that “all” does not include God’s children who do not share the same understanding of what constitutes appropriate worship etiquette, attire, or what it means to be in a faithful covenant relationship. These are but a few of the ways in which we unjustly exclude those created in God’s image and ensure that Sunday mornings remain “the most segregated hour(s) in America.”
What is most troubling about the state of affairs in which we continue to find ourselves is not the outright prejudice and bigotry that exist among far too many of us; rather, the greatest hindrance to the actualization of the beloved community continues to be the sentimentality of would-be supporters of the cause for justice. Dr. King often lamented the fact that “moderates” are frequently “more cautious than courageous” as they “remain silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained-glass windows.” Like the moderate religious leaders to whom Dr. King was compelled to respond, many of us are deceived by the misconception that time inevitably leads toward progress, and we therefore caution those who unduly suffer injustice and their allies with the “piercingly familiar word ‘Wait!’” Wisdom born of experience had taught him that “progress never rolls in on the wheels of inevitability.” It is as cruel as it is audacious for privileged persons to attempt to determine the timetable for when others will enjoy those same privileges.
This past Monday I learned something else with renewed clarity. There is still much work to be done, but there is also much progress to celebrate nearly sixty-seven years after Dr. King penned his letter. Many of our public servants, educators, businesspersons, religious leaders, caregivers, and everyday extraordinary citizens are working urgently and tirelessly toward the fulfillment of the beloved community. I can imagine that Dr. King looks upon the progress we have made with both a divine satisfaction with what has been accomplished and a divine restlessness with how far we still have to go. Until we have reached “the promised land,” like King, I thank God for those who co-labor day after day to create a community in which we celebrate our diversity even as we celebrate our oneness as people created in God’s image. I thank God for the many women, men, and children in our community who refuse to wait, and I pray that God will grant me the inspiration, wisdom, and courage to be counted among their number.
Let me conclude with the prayer that Dr. King offered before those whom he believed were persons of good will, just as I do:
“If I have said anything … that is an overstatement of the truth and is indicative of an unreasonable impatience [with anyone other than myself], I beg you to forgive me. If I have said anything … that is an understatement of the truth and is indicative of my having a patience that makes me patient with anything less than brotherhood [and sisterhood], I ask God to forgive me.”
May this be our continual prayer as we strive together to become ONE.
Jacob