I honestly can’t tell you the full range of my emotions right now. Having just returned home from the Martin Luther King Jr. Tribute, I am overwhelmed.

The evening began fine enough, dinner with old friends and new, white and black. I saw simple graces exchanged; a smile from a black man to a white man, a firm handshake, sharing desserts. I reminded myself not to drift back into comfortable conversation with my white friends, but that this was a dinner that was for cultivating all relationships.

We met in a church’s lobby for dinner, then moved into their auditorium for a presentation. We began in worship, with voices from nearly every tongue, tribe, and race in Abilene, TX. It was a picture of Revelation 7, where all people come together under their love for a common Father. Powerful. Videos of King’s life and dream were presented. I promise you: if I listened to his words every day, my whole world would fall apart and a new, vibrant world of God would emerge.

Martin Luther King had a dream, but 40 years ago today, someone killed the dreamer. He was assassinated in Memphis, TN while calling for worker rights. He was shot in the jaw; as if to silence his mouth from uttering another word. But his dream lives on. His words can still be heard - they were heard again tonight.

King “had been to the Mountaintop,” and he had pointed to the Promised Land - a land where all peoples could live in harmony together. But we as a country and as a world have spent the last 40 years in the wilderness.

We did not believe his dream. Like so many prophets before him, King was silenced by a doubter, and we listened to the lies of the mob rather than the passionate cries of the preacher.

Our schools and churches are more segregated now than they were 40 years ago. They are filled with more fear and hate than they were 40 years ago. And maybe worst of all, King’s message has message has been tamed, and his memory is confined to the naming of bridges and streets - many of which subtly demarcate boundaries of class and race.

We now stand after 40 years in the wilderness at the edge of the Promised Land. Much like the Israelites, we have seen a generation pass since Dr. King’s blood mixed with the blood of Christ’s in the pool of martyrs and saints. Where is our courage? What are our next steps? Where do we go from here? Can we have the courage to go where Dr. King was leading us? Knowing that his path led to his death? When will we have the dream so clearly in our minds, that it won’t matter if we see that dream realized alive or dead? How can we non-violently resist the principalities and powers that assail our nation, our communities, our own selves?

One of my fellow graduate students, Kavian, (the only black male in the GST,) spoke at the Tribute. His words were bold and provocative. They tore at my heart. I repented of participating in a system of sin that is so completely fused into our society. I begged the Lord for forgiveness, and feeling his intimate love, asked him for the power to seek only peace in the midst of a world of swords. Afterward I approached Kavian, who was speaking with a black student I had met a few days earlier. Feeling the move of the Spirit, I asked their forgiveness, got down on my knees, and told them I was so proud to be considered their brother in Christ. Tears welled up in my eyes, and theirs.

I write these words to proclaim God’s power. Outside of anything we could’ve accomplished on our own power, God’s dream (spoken through King) was spied by my heart for just a moment tonight. If it cannot start tonight, it will never start. We can’t wait for another Martin Luther King Jr. The revolution of love must continue in you, in me, and continue in all of us.

Last 5 posts by Mark

• God is Wholly - October 2nd, 2008
• The Great Moderation - September 30th, 2008

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 5th, 2008 at 12:34 am and is filed under Christian Unity, Confessions, Prophetic Imagination, Protest, Saints, Social Justice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.