Prophet of our Times
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Today we celebrate his life and legacy with the official stamp of approval from our government and yet as I listened to the news this morning I still hear the doubt in main-stream America.
As a child growing up in Mississippi I heard all of the arguments as they were still fresh. "He's just an aggetater" (phonetic venacular spelling!). "All he wanted to do was stir things up". I heard all of the white perspectives fresh from the mouths of sons as heard through their fathers and their father's fathers.
But something stirred within me. Something that could not ignore the eternal truths that this man spoke of.
All we ever had access to were the speaches that were televised and recorded and as the man spoke, I could never not see the truth in what he was saying.
I lived with the predudice and the smart-ass responses from my "less than civilized" bretheren. But it was more than that for me. It was as if I were hearing the gospel in a new light. As if this man was saying all the things I knew in my heart could be true but most assuredly were not.
So how to reconcile these things in my young heart? How do you make sense of biblical truths in the face of so much popular discord?
As I read of the prophets of old, I realized that no one wants to hear the truth if it disruped the world that they lived in. All prophets "stirred up" stuff and made the establishment understand that they were on a path that God had not intended for us to be on.
And with those pronouncements always came betrayal and death.
MLK knew this. He could feel the walls closing down in on him. He, of all people, understood that his place was to continue, even at the peril of what he had to know was his very life.
I don't know if legacy means anything to the living - but something gave this man the courage to continue when he knew the outcome. And because I am a man of faith, I just have to believe that it was a heavy burden that God placed on this man's shoulders and all he could do was say "Yes Lord, I will answer".
So as we pause and reflect, this boy has made a resolution to remember. To remember and to be amazed at the gift that truth is the one thing that can cut through all of the crap that we encounter in our every day lives.
There is a better place, but it's not somewhere else - it's right here, and all we have to do is claim it and learn to love and respect all people. To listen to those that are hurting and do everything in our power to make their lives a better place.
And in doing so, we become better in the process.
Yes, MLK was a prophet. Now do we have the courage to live out that vision?
Today we celebrate his life and legacy with the official stamp of approval from our government and yet as I listened to the news this morning I still hear the doubt in main-stream America.
As a child growing up in Mississippi I heard all of the arguments as they were still fresh. "He's just an aggetater" (phonetic venacular spelling!). "All he wanted to do was stir things up". I heard all of the white perspectives fresh from the mouths of sons as heard through their fathers and their father's fathers.
But something stirred within me. Something that could not ignore the eternal truths that this man spoke of.
All we ever had access to were the speaches that were televised and recorded and as the man spoke, I could never not see the truth in what he was saying.
I lived with the predudice and the smart-ass responses from my "less than civilized" bretheren. But it was more than that for me. It was as if I were hearing the gospel in a new light. As if this man was saying all the things I knew in my heart could be true but most assuredly were not.
So how to reconcile these things in my young heart? How do you make sense of biblical truths in the face of so much popular discord?
As I read of the prophets of old, I realized that no one wants to hear the truth if it disruped the world that they lived in. All prophets "stirred up" stuff and made the establishment understand that they were on a path that God had not intended for us to be on.
And with those pronouncements always came betrayal and death.
MLK knew this. He could feel the walls closing down in on him. He, of all people, understood that his place was to continue, even at the peril of what he had to know was his very life.
I don't know if legacy means anything to the living - but something gave this man the courage to continue when he knew the outcome. And because I am a man of faith, I just have to believe that it was a heavy burden that God placed on this man's shoulders and all he could do was say "Yes Lord, I will answer".
So as we pause and reflect, this boy has made a resolution to remember. To remember and to be amazed at the gift that truth is the one thing that can cut through all of the crap that we encounter in our every day lives.
There is a better place, but it's not somewhere else - it's right here, and all we have to do is claim it and learn to love and respect all people. To listen to those that are hurting and do everything in our power to make their lives a better place.
And in doing so, we become better in the process.
Yes, MLK was a prophet. Now do we have the courage to live out that vision?
posted by KK at 9:30 AM
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