For MLK Weekend: Most Americans seem to think the only speech Martin Luther King Jr. ever gave was at the Washington Memorial on August 28, 1963. But Dr. King was about a whole lot more than what he said that day. This sermon, delivered on Christmas Morning 1967, speaks to all the great issues, and links them together inseparably.
One does not have to be a religious believer to believe in the power of hope and dreams. As I did back in the ‘60s, I still try to do my little part to bring his and our dreams to fruition as I am about to enter my 80th year.
You want to know why millions of people, especially the young, have left the churches, compare what King describes in this lovely and impassioned sermon, and what all too many fundamentalist churches spew from the pulpit..... I have often said that the essence of Christianity is found in the Summary of the Law and the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25, and this sermon makes that terribly clear. Way too many of the evangelical churches have truly lost their way, to root around in the muck of hate and fear - they are no longer Christians, but heretics.....and the youngsters know it and react by leaving in droves..... Martin Luther King Jr. was so much more than a couple of speeches.....
One really good man - human like all of us, but tried to make us think & live better, kinder lives. Gone way too soon, like many others who tried to show us a better world.
Thank you very much for this. So often people get stuck on Dr King's "I have a dream" speech and never encounter anything else. One that always haunts me is his "Riverside" speech against the Vietnam war. But when you immerse yourself in more of his writing and oratory, you realize how much of his "sayings" are part of our every day vernacular. Are we listening?
well done TC and a great reminder of the contribution Dr. King made and what we lost when he was taken away far too early.
Purely a technical note, in the third paragraph, some of the language is missing from the last sentence. The actual quote is "And as we explore these conditions, I would like to suggest that modern man really go all out to study the meaning of nonviolence, its philosoph.y and its strategy
the one thing I dislike about MLK Day is that most media outlets seem to be committed to a politically sanitized version of Dr. King, who was a lot more of a fiery left-wing person than a lot of people like to admit (if they knew it in the first place).
he was the commencement speaker for the CCNY class of '66. since my father was the PR guy for the school as well as a Special Assistant to the President, the custom was for him to have dinner with whomever the speaker was. my parents said that it was fantastically exciting just BEING there, his charisma was so powerful. they also said that in his conversation he kept returning to his absolute certainty that he was going to be assassinated.
Profoundly beautiful! I am not religious myself, but a turning point in my spiritual and political life was attending the speech by MLK on May 17, 1967 at Sproul Plaza, UC Berkeley. I will never forget him. Thanks for sharing!
Oh that we had in today's world such a messenger of peace and practice of peace among all on earth. Every year as we commemorate Martin Luther King Jr, and his doctrine of peace may it be that all will do a self-check of how we can continue his legacy.
Looking back from the vantage point of these last 55 years, I am not surprised that Dr. King was killed. His ideas were huge and if implemented would have profoundly changed the country. Justice and dignity for black, brown, and poor people--OMG! what a thought! The haters and takers were never going to allow society to be an even playing field. They still are not--look at the dysfunctional House.
I actually have the muscle memory of sitting on the fire escape of my "new" apartment in Brooklyn to eat a chicken I'd burned and which had smoked up the house (hence the fire escape) with my friend Ben, hearing the phone ring, bending to get into the kitchen, answering the phone, and getting the news from my tearful mother, who was crying. it feels like it could have been last week.
I love this sermon. Thank you for putting out here for all of us to read for the first time or re-read for I don't know how many times. I have made a practice of reading Dr.King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail each year at his birthday. A challenge to the would be church, if you will. I'm a retired pastor and I can say without any doubt at all, religion, whatever flavor and wherever the flavor is found, gives the Creator a bad name 9 out of 10 times.
Thank you for refreshing this memory, MLK’s words are timeless and an important touchstone. Honestly, I struggle with pacifism. While my default is finding common ground and building on whatever consensus I can find, when an egregious attack occurs, I struggle with the concept of passive resistance.
For instance, the Ukrainian people have been united in their violent fight against Russian aggression. Would they have been equally united in passive resistance? Would it even work? Were there opportunities to prevent this that we missed? I’ve been wrestling with these questions since I read your post. Because war has simply become too dangerous. It threatens our very existence as a species.
You have touched exactly on the conundrum of passive resistance. There are place (like Ukraine) where it absolutely would not work. The Ukrainian's "passively resisted" Russia for 800 years.
One does not have to be a religious believer to believe in the power of hope and dreams. As I did back in the ‘60s, I still try to do my little part to bring his and our dreams to fruition as I am about to enter my 80th year.
You want to know why millions of people, especially the young, have left the churches, compare what King describes in this lovely and impassioned sermon, and what all too many fundamentalist churches spew from the pulpit..... I have often said that the essence of Christianity is found in the Summary of the Law and the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25, and this sermon makes that terribly clear. Way too many of the evangelical churches have truly lost their way, to root around in the muck of hate and fear - they are no longer Christians, but heretics.....and the youngsters know it and react by leaving in droves..... Martin Luther King Jr. was so much more than a couple of speeches.....
One really good man - human like all of us, but tried to make us think & live better, kinder lives. Gone way too soon, like many others who tried to show us a better world.
Thank you very much for this. So often people get stuck on Dr King's "I have a dream" speech and never encounter anything else. One that always haunts me is his "Riverside" speech against the Vietnam war. But when you immerse yourself in more of his writing and oratory, you realize how much of his "sayings" are part of our every day vernacular. Are we listening?
Hopefully some of us are.
MLK was a prophet that walked among us...
well done TC and a great reminder of the contribution Dr. King made and what we lost when he was taken away far too early.
Purely a technical note, in the third paragraph, some of the language is missing from the last sentence. The actual quote is "And as we explore these conditions, I would like to suggest that modern man really go all out to study the meaning of nonviolence, its philosoph.y and its strategy
Thanks for that I will straighten it out.
the one thing I dislike about MLK Day is that most media outlets seem to be committed to a politically sanitized version of Dr. King, who was a lot more of a fiery left-wing person than a lot of people like to admit (if they knew it in the first place).
he was the commencement speaker for the CCNY class of '66. since my father was the PR guy for the school as well as a Special Assistant to the President, the custom was for him to have dinner with whomever the speaker was. my parents said that it was fantastically exciting just BEING there, his charisma was so powerful. they also said that in his conversation he kept returning to his absolute certainty that he was going to be assassinated.
Profoundly beautiful! I am not religious myself, but a turning point in my spiritual and political life was attending the speech by MLK on May 17, 1967 at Sproul Plaza, UC Berkeley. I will never forget him. Thanks for sharing!
Oh that we had in today's world such a messenger of peace and practice of peace among all on earth. Every year as we commemorate Martin Luther King Jr, and his doctrine of peace may it be that all will do a self-check of how we can continue his legacy.
Thanks for this, TC. I agree with Karen; he was a prophet and what we see today is the antithesis of what he dreamed.
Looking back from the vantage point of these last 55 years, I am not surprised that Dr. King was killed. His ideas were huge and if implemented would have profoundly changed the country. Justice and dignity for black, brown, and poor people--OMG! what a thought! The haters and takers were never going to allow society to be an even playing field. They still are not--look at the dysfunctional House.
Thank you for sharing this sermon, TC.
And then he was murdered. I remember 1968, I remember what has happened since then. The insanity continues…
I actually have the muscle memory of sitting on the fire escape of my "new" apartment in Brooklyn to eat a chicken I'd burned and which had smoked up the house (hence the fire escape) with my friend Ben, hearing the phone ring, bending to get into the kitchen, answering the phone, and getting the news from my tearful mother, who was crying. it feels like it could have been last week.
My Mom stood in the kitchen crying when she told me. It felt like hope died that day.
I love this sermon. Thank you for putting out here for all of us to read for the first time or re-read for I don't know how many times. I have made a practice of reading Dr.King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail each year at his birthday. A challenge to the would be church, if you will. I'm a retired pastor and I can say without any doubt at all, religion, whatever flavor and wherever the flavor is found, gives the Creator a bad name 9 out of 10 times.
Would that Christianity could be removed from the religion of “men” and returned to the context of His Word
Thank you for refreshing this memory, MLK’s words are timeless and an important touchstone. Honestly, I struggle with pacifism. While my default is finding common ground and building on whatever consensus I can find, when an egregious attack occurs, I struggle with the concept of passive resistance.
For instance, the Ukrainian people have been united in their violent fight against Russian aggression. Would they have been equally united in passive resistance? Would it even work? Were there opportunities to prevent this that we missed? I’ve been wrestling with these questions since I read your post. Because war has simply become too dangerous. It threatens our very existence as a species.
You have touched exactly on the conundrum of passive resistance. There are place (like Ukraine) where it absolutely would not work. The Ukrainian's "passively resisted" Russia for 800 years.
Captain Royce Williams from LA Times. https://edition.pagesuite.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?guid=d6ee7223-7b80-4139-8623-3889f1034d9a&v=sdk
Thanks for posting this. It's really a big deal.
Thank you Royce Williams all your years of service. Metal long past due!
Thank you.