Martin Luther King Jr. Day

This blog provides a meditation on the Episcopal daily readings along with a headline from world news:
Only one non-white person in Scottish Parliament 

Genesis 37:17-20

¹⁷The man said, ‘They have gone away, for I heard them say, “Let us go to Dothan.” ’ So Joseph went after his brothers, and found them at Dothan. ¹⁸They saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him. ¹⁹They said to one another, ‘Here comes this dreamer. ²⁰Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.

Ephesians 6:10-20

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. 11Put on the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13Therefore take up the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. 15As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. 16With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. 19Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, 20for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.

Luke 6:27-36

27 ‘But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. 30Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. 31Do to others as you would have them do to you. 32 ‘If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. 35But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. 36Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

This is Martin Luther King Day, the day he was killed in 1968. Delving into his sermons, articles and books as I’ve done over the years is a moving experience; not because it reveals a man far ahead of his time in the daring of his thought and practice, but because it reveals precisely a man of his time and place, dealing conscientiously and creatively with what he knew. His commitment to non-violence, for example, did not come to him out of flash of inspiration but by reading the gospels with Gandhi. His understanding of justice came from finding his black community’s reading of the Old Testament confirmed by his scholarly study of it. His understanding of the vital role of Labour Unions for the liberation of black and white workers was what took him to Memphis on 4^th April 1968. His greatness was to be available to his own time, to reject none of his neighbours, to exclude nothing from the purview of his faith, and to duck no present responsibility for the sake of the future. It was this purchase on actuality which gave him such a profound understanding of his people and such an extraordinary capacity to articulate their dreams.

He never forgot that he was American, seeing his dream as a special version of the American dream. That’s what makes him different from the radicals of other nations-his conviction that he was expressing something hidden in the founding promise of his own nation. Can his own view of his dream survive his killing and the subsequent history of his people? I don’t think so. It seems to me that, as in the lesser case of Obama, appropriating the American dream was ultimately a way of distorting the dissident dream which was truly his own. The great killers who forged the United States have forestalled all subsequent attempts to desist from blood: there is in their dream a monster who eats her own children, as she ate Luther King.

His great dream survives, however because it was grounded in the love and justice of God; in the suffering and indignities of his people; and in Jesus Christ the fellow- sufferer and liberator. Of course it has been challenged by those like Malcolm X and Nelson Mandela who believe in armed struggle and by those who think like Fidel Castro that justice must begin with the overthrow of capitalism. But ultimately these are fraternal critics who share his view that institutional injustice stinks to heaven and must be challenged. That is why Luther King is a hero not only of the Christian faith, but of the true left in politics, the stubborn awkward people who will never accept poverty and prejudice for themselves or their neighbour; and why he will never belong to the sneering defenders of inequality such as the UK Prime Minister who lately used the name of Luther King to mock people who had marched against his policies.

The specifics of his dream were that he knew he was fighting against spiritual forces of evil-which were of course manifested in flesh and blood people-and that he had to use the armour of God and teach others to use it. He also knew to his cost that nothing was worthy of the name of Christ that did not demand a love of the enemy. His dream included the welfare of his murderous opponents.

With all that, he was pure steel when courage was required. When they tried to scare him out of Memphis with rumours of assassination, he told a crowd that it didn’t matter to him because, “I have climbed the mountain and I have seen the Promised Land. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!”

People still dream his dream.