faithrunner

One of my beefs with the coverage of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was that no one , I mean no one , that I heard or watched ever mentioned he was a pastor of a local church long before he led a national movement for civil rights. Why is that important? He was a preacher , not a public speaker. He was a pastor , not a community organizer. He preached Sunday after Sunday from the Bible that dealt with real issues in his congregation's life , and from addressing those needs in a biblical-theological way, the message from the local church touched the community, state, nation and then the world . Mervyn A. Warren in his book King Came Preaching wrote that King believed God and his people, not governments and community organizations would change the world. "In the sermons of King, then, God is the sustaining power in the universe whose presence assures the ultimate triumph of good over evil. As the One who provides human beings with inner resources to meet life's pr...

This past October while at a conference in Atlanta, a friend and I took a side trip downtown to see the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site and the surrounding buildings. I had been before, but the older I get the more I realize the significance of this man's life. I have confessed before that the Civil Rights Movement went on outside my personal, suburban experience. I knew something was going on by the news I watched occasionally at night after we ate, but I never encountered the movement firsthand. Like many white Americans, I was sympathetic to the situation of Afro-Americans in my country but let the work and death of others right the wrong. Two quotes from Dr. King caught my attention on this trip. I have not looked up their source, but they are on postcards I bought in the museum gift shop. The first is: "The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige, and even his life for the welfare of others. In dangerous valleys and hazardous pathways, h...