On Martin Luther King Day

Sometimes you have to say the important things

Every year on Martin Luther King Day, my pastor encourages us all to read King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” and sends us a link to it.

Reverend King wrote this in 1963 after he had been arrested during a nonviolent protest against racial injustice in Birmingham, Alabama. In it, which he wrote longhand, he addresses white clergymen who were critical of him and his methods. Unfortunately, in the 62 years since then, though progress has been made in some areas, racism and apathy toward it are still very much with us. In fact, it has become even more visible in the past decade, and too many white churches still perpetrate it, or at least while giving lip service to inclusion don’t practice it. King’s words in the letter about churches are prophetic:

“But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust.”

On this Martin Luther King Day, which is also inauguration day this year, I recommend you take the time to read it too. It’s long, but it’s important. It grounds us in what liberty and justice for all ought to mean. Even if you have no use for churches, it can be applied to other areas of influence and is certainly food for thought for our personal lives. If you’ve read it before, consider it a timely review. I do.

Here’s the link: Letter from a Birmingham Jail