MLK Monument
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial in Washington was dedicated by President Obama on Oct. 16, 2011. (Photo by Maile Bradfield, UMNS.)
For the first time in our nation’s history, Martin Luther King Jr. Day falls in the midst of a presidential impeachment/trial process. [1]. The juxtaposition of these two things shapes my thinking as we observe MLK Jr Day today.
On the Day of Pentecost, Luke used the words of Joel to describe what was happening. The passage Luke cited includes the words, “Your young will see visions. Your elders will dream dreams” (Acts 2:17 from Joel 2:28 CEB). For some reason, I assumed that Luke meant young adults would look forward as visionaries, while older adults would look back as dreamers. Reading Luke’s words for the first time, decades ago, I was young. So naturally, I located myself in the first sentence, and I wanted to be a visionary.
But now I am an elder, dreaming dreams. And I have come to realize that dreamers are not those who look back. Looking back is about memories, not dreams—it is to become nostalgic and long for “good old days” sanitized by time to appear better than they were. That’s not dreaming.
Martin Luther King Jr. helped me stop misunderstanding Luke’s words, and enabled me to realize what living in God’s pentecosts (decisive moments in history) means. He was a young man when he stood before the nation and declared, “I have dream.” His words were forward looking. Dreaming was not about looking back. Quite the contrary. Dreams are prophetic imaginings of new way.
Later he reminded us that dreams are not just for the young. They are within all of us at every age. When Luke wrote that elders would dream dreams in God’s Pentecost, he was saying that people of all ages can be filled with the Spirit and imagine a new way. Dreams and visions are not directional (backward/forward), they are transformational. Martin Luther King Jr. helped me see this.
Yesterday in her ‘Sunday Paper,’ Maria Shriver captured what Martin meant as she wrote, “Each of us can decide at any moment to no longer simply be an observer, and instead to rise up out of our comfort zone and march, or imagine, or go within, and come back out with an idea that will surely help others.” [2] People young and old can be filled with the Spirit, can be given the strength to love, and accept the call to rise up and call out evil through the nonviolent and prophetic pursuit of the common good. [3]
This year, I am experiencing Martin Luther King Jr. Day as an invitation to recommit myself to “no longer be an observer, and instead to rise up out of our comfort zone” to speak and act as disciples of Jesus whose eyes have seen “the coming of the glory of the Lord.” Today is a fresh opportunity to join the growing number of people young and old who are crafting new wineskins to carry God’s wine that we call the Kingdom of God, beloved community, etc. Today is a day to reenlist in the movement King personified and Micah 6:8 summarized as doing justice (practicing fairness, equity, and inclusion), loving kindness (embodying God’s hesed, shalom, and compassion), and walking humbly with God (as servants).
We are living in a Micah moment in history—a time when many of our leaders have failed us (see Micah chapter three), a time when the Holy Spirit is once again turning to the people en masse, to mobilize for “the practice of the better” (Richard Rohr’s description) that turns the words of St. Francis’ prayer into actions,
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to understood as to understand
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.
It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
[1] MLK Jr Day and the impeachment/trial of Bill Clinton occurred close together in 1999, but they did not overlap.
[2] Maria Shriver’s ‘Sunday Paper,’ 1/19/2020.
[3] King’s book, "Strength to Love" is a moving and instructive description of how we are called to live in perilous times. Walter Brueggemann’s book, "Journey to the Common Good" is another powerful word about the same thing.
The Rev. Dr. Steve Harper
The Rev. Dr. Steve Harper is a retired seminary professor, who taught for 32 years in the disciplines of Spiritual Formation and Wesley Studies. Author and co-author of 31 books and a retired Elder in The Florida Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church, he and his wife Jeannie Waller Harper are frequent leaders of workshops and spiritual retreats. This post is republished with permission from his blog Oboedire.