2023 Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration
When I was a college Chaplain I invoked a rule for Martin Luther King Jr. Day: no quoting Dr. King unless you’ve actually read something from Dr. King…in its entirety. It turns out, despite King’s prolific body of written work, that’s a high bar for most. It’s easier to use one of his familiar quotations, out of context, than to wrestle with the timeless challenges King raised.
This year marks 60 years since King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail was written. The letter is widely regarded as one of the most important pieces of literature of the 20th century. One of the reasons it continues to endure is because, it, like the letters of St. Paul, surpasses the challenge of the moment—segregation—and urges its readers to contemplate a timeless path to spiritual growth.
A close read of the letter reveals that King is much more than an iconic figure—inspiring his followers to live in beloved community. He is also a sharp critic of ways of life which put things before people. One of the things he expresses disappointment with is moderation in response to injustice (perhaps a perennial sadness). King saves his greatest critique and his greatest disappointment for the end of his letter. The thing which saddens him the most is the White Christian Church. King offers his assessment not as a “negative critic who can always find something wrong with the church…” but as a minister of the gospel. The Church’s very existence is to protect those who are vulnerable in part by challenging those who have power to work out their faith in fear and trembling.
In the spirit of no quoting Dr. King unless you’ve actually read something from Dr. King…in its entirety rule. I share with you the opening paragraphs of Letter from a Brimham Jail interspersed with a letter St. Paul also wrote from jail, Philippians.