January 18, 2010

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – Above All A Preacher of God
By Local 2195 Webmaster John Davis

"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity."
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today the country again pauses to remember one of their greatest and brightest – Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This man was known as a civil rights leader, a social activist, author, orator, Nobel Peace Prize Winner and American icon. However, first and foremost Dr. King was a preacher of the Gospel – a man of God. Often this gets lost when speaking of Dr. King, when it is my opinion that being a man of God shaped Dr. King’s message more than anything else.

Dr. King finished his doctorate in 1953, and mulled his opportunities for his life. With his doctorate Dr. King could have chosen an academic career that could have included a comfortable life in the suburbs – even as a person of color. He could have chosen a life that would have buffeted his family from the cruelty and discrimination that others of his race suffered. However, he turned his back to the easy path and chose to go into the ministry full time. His father, grandfather and great grandfather had all been preachers of the Gospel and young Martin witnessed their words and actions as they delivered the word of God and participated in the NAACP in Atlanta. However, Martin resisted the call of the ministry and determined to carve a different path for himself.

In 1944 Martin Luther King, Jr. enrolled in Morehouse College in Atlanta and was exposed to teachers that meshed the teachings of the Bible and the Christian’s call to action. According to Dr. King’s autobiography Religion Professor George Kelsey taught him the profound truths in the Bible that he could not escape. Morehouse President Benjamin Hayes encouraged young King to understand how Christianity could be a potential force for progressive social change. Dr. King would later write these two men, along with the example of his father, shaped his decision to go into the ministry as a response to an “inner urge” calling him to “serve humanity.” King would be ordained as a minister of the Gospel of Christ in his final semester at Morehouse.

Following the completion of his doctorate Dr. King accepted a job as pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama in 1954. There he tended to his flock and preached the Word of God until December of 1955 when a young seamstress named Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a public bus to a white passenger in Montgomery. Dr. King was pressed into service by the local NAACP Chapter to be the spokesperson for the boycotts that followed the arrest. Accounts of the events recall that Dr. King was reluctant to accept such a high profile position because he still considered himself “the new kid in town” but the organizers admired his oratory skills and wouldn’t take no for an answer.

During the bus boycott Dr. King’s house was bombed in Montgomery, while his wife and infant daughter were inside. In 1958 the first attempt on life occurred when he was stabbed in the chest at a book signing. Through all these personal attacks, Dr. King became more and more convinced the principles of passive resistance were the key to invoking social change.  Much has been made about his influence on the teachings of Mohandas Gandhi’s passive resistance – and Dr. King has confirmed this. But, Dr. King always made certain to suggest that his Christian principles were the guiding influence in his life.

Dr. King was often quoted as saying “I don’t know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future.” Dr. King would eventually accept an offer by his father to join him as co-pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta when the demands of seeing to the needs of his congregation and his growing responsibility as a civil rights leader made it difficult for him to serve the needs of Dexter Avenue. The move home to Atlanta placed Dr. King in the middle of the Civil Rights Movement while allowing him to teach the Gospel of Christ.

The principles of peace, love and supporting your brothers and sisters were lesson straight for the Bible. When other Christians chose to look the other way at injustice and discrimination, Dr. King wrote human progress “comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation.” In his letter from the Birmingham Jail Dr. King encouraged other members of the clergy to take up the cause of all humanity and to spread the word of God.

With that said, we must ask ourselves just what is the path that many of today’s religious and social leaders take in spreading the same word of Christ that Dr. King preached. When so-called religious leaders make mocking statements about earthquakes in Haiti or state that God used Hurricane Katrina to punish New Orleans, you have to wonder where these men get their religious instruction. The Bible speaks of helping others, reaching out to those who are down, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, clothing the naked, seeing to the needs of widows and orphans and spreading the good word. Dr. King championed all these things. But, far too often today we hear the gospel of ownership societies and principles of exclusion spoken in religious circles. I wonder what God would say to these men whose hearts are so harden and calloused who preach a gospel of indifference to those in need.

Today, let us remember that Dr. King was first and foremost a preacher of the Gospel of Christ. May we each take these principles to heart and do our part to “rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.” As Christians and Americans, may we always take up the cause that Dr. King championed, place our shoulder to the wheel and roll justice and humility across the land, seeing to it that we always do unto others as we would have them do unto us. As Dr. King said,” Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.” What path will you chose?