Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Questions

Today is the day set aside to honor the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. Whatever your personal view of the man, I believe that we could ask a number of questions.

How would Dr. King himself like to have been remembered? Founder and first President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Noble Peace Prize winner, Civil Rights Leader, Medal of Freedom recipient, great orator, Congressional, Gold Medal recipient? I remember seeing Andrew Young interviewed a few years ago and he said that, first and foremost, that Dr. King thought of himself as a Pastor.

Have you ever Googled Martin Luther King, Jr.? If you haven’t, I highly recommend it. As a mentioned in a previous blog, the I Have a Dream speech is not to be missed.

After all these years don’t we wonder if things would be different if Dr. King were still alive? Would we be better off?

Is Dr. King's dream still alive? I think it is and one of the reasons I think that is the number of observances that occur each year in many locations across the nation.

Can we really get along? If we concentrate on our past I fear we will despair. If we look at the present, we may very well become discouraged. However, if we look at the glorious future we have together in Jesus Christ, we just might find the hope we need. I mean regardless of your skin tone, as Christians our Lord and Savior gives us the very sure hope of reaching Heaven. Can you imagine anything other than complete harmony among all we meet there? Don’t you think that our Father in Heaven wishes that we would get along in the here and now? We may have changed the laws (and rightly so) and politics, but our best hope for unity always has been and always will be Jesus Christ!

What price are you willing to pay for unity? Dr. King used to say that the 11:00 o’clock hour on Sunday morning was the most segregated hour in America. Almost forty years after his death, that has not changed much. So what can you do? You can get out of the box you are in, that’s what. For all of us this means stopping stereotyping groups of people. For some Whites, it will mean repenting of the institution of slavery and a history of injustice. For some Blacks, it will clearly mean letting go of your anger and stopping trying to hold all white people hostage for what happened in the past.

Where do we go from here? How about visiting a church with a congregation that’s different than your own? Sure, it may seem uncomfortable at first, but I know from firsthand experience that it’s worth it. Watch the Faith page and the Happenings page on http://www.fayettefrontpage.com/ as well as local newspapers for special events at area churches. Plan to attend.


Show yourself faithful. Don’t be afraid to be different. After all, you are representing Jesus Christ and His unifying love (See JOHN 17). Let’s try to get to know more of our brothers and sisters in Christ!