Martin Luther King

This year is the 20th anniversary of the celebration of Martin Luther King Day as a national holiday.

I truly hope that Martin Luther King Day does not become another holiday like Veteran's Day which has become a day to shop the pre-season sales for winter coats. Or like Presidents' Day, which has become a day to shop for mattresses and new cars.

Martin Luther King was from an upper middle class family. But, being a black man, he had to ride in the back of the bus.

He was educated at Morehouse College. But he could not sit at the lunch counter at Woolworth's and be served a sandwich and a cup of coffee.

He was a minister of his own church in Atlanta. But for protesting segregation, he received death threats and was once stabbed in the chest. This, before he was assassinated in Memphis.

As a clergy member, he knew that he was right as a matter of Scripture.  God shows no partiality (Romans 2:11).

He knew as a matter of the Constitution that "all men are created equal".

In matters of the heart, he said, "If I am stopped, this movement will not stop, because God is with the movement."

He also said "We have no alternative but to protest."  He declared that he would not be patient with "anything less than freedom and justice."

God, grant me the vision to discern the Truth, and the COURAGE to speak the Truth. Let me never shrink from fighting for freedom for all of Your children!

[For further reflection on the significance of the life of Martin Luther King, read my January 16, 2012 posting entitled, "Remembering Martin Luther King".]

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