Dr. King and Me

When I was in college I began reading more on the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I remember being deeply challenged and changed when I read his "Letter from Birmingham Jail." He wrote it, obviously, from jail to several white prominent Alabama clergy who had "published an open letter earlier... that called on King to allow the battle for integration to continue in the local and federal courts, and warned that King's nonviolent resistance whould have the effec tof inciting civli disturbances."

I want to encourage you to take a moment today in honor of Dr. King to read this profound letter.

http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/frequentdocs/birmingham.pdf

Dr. King challenged the apathetic "white moderate" christians and "white church" who at the time did not participate in the struggle for racial equality and often criticized the non-violent action of Dr. King and those with him. Listen to what he says...

"In the midst of blatant injustices inflicted upon the Negro, I have watched white churches stand on the sideline and merely mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities. In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard so many ministers say, 'Those are social issues with which the gospel has no real concern,' and I have watched so many churches commit themselves to a completely otherworldly religion which made a strange distinction between body and soul, the sacred and the secular."

This quote and many others you will find in this letter began to stir something in my soul and still does. "The church on the sideline" is still too often the norm when it comes to the still existing racial and economic injustice that exists in many impoverished black communities. In Baltimore, where I live, this can still be seen by taking a drive through the city. In any direction you go it won't be long before you will see impoverished communities one after another.

I believe there is a place in the church for a holy prophetic anger that moves us to action and I pray that Dr. King's letter, our own Biblical reflection, and observation of the existing racial and economic disparities that exist today would move us to action!

Please view this brief video a friend of mine, Mike Shive, made in honor of Dr. King
http://www.dvxs.com/video/mlkvideo-wmv.wmv